Blood Lines
by Queen Of Dead Hearts
Summary: Sequel to "Prince Of Blood." You think you know yourself. And then one day you realize you never even knew who you really were. And you never will.
1. Never Say Never

**_"Christmas"_**

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Groggily, I opened my eyes to see my dark room.  
Usually I take a little while to fully come to my senses, but today, I was immediately alert.

Today was the big day.

Okay, yes it was Christmas Day. . .but that's not what I was anxious about.  
Today marked something much more important to me.

Today was me and my boyfriend's 1 month, 3 weeks, and 5 days anniversary.  
Now, that may sound like the _stupidest _anniversary _ever. _

But, this was extremely important. But not in a good way.  
The thing is that my boyfriend, Austin, is sort of a player.

It wasn't really by choice, but the result was still the same.  
He didn't keep his girlfriends around for long.

Actually, he broke up with them after dating them for exactly 1 month, 3 weeks, and 5 days.  
Now, what Austin and I had was much more special then what he had with his other girlfriends.

But, I was still panicking over today's date.  
Maybe my blood was getting old to Austin . . . I mean, I know we're Blood Bound. . . but you never know.

You see, Austin is a vampire. And I am his blood donor. . . in the human sense of the word (thank you very much.) Austin drinks all his girlfriends bloods. . .but I'm the only one who knew he was a vampire. (After a complicated series of events) He always gets rid of his blood donors after 1 month, 3 weeks, and 5 days because their blood becomes stale to him. We aren't really sure why that is. . .but, the point is that after their blood loses it's flavor, they get the boot.

Now, Austin and I are Blood Bound. Now, I'm _still _not exactly sure what that means. All I know is that Austin and I are linked through blood. It gives us the ability to communicate telepathically, read each other's minds, and see into each other's head. It also switches Austin's moods after feeding. You see, a Blood Bind can only occur between immortals.

Which means, yes, I'm an immortal. As in; Not human.  
Well, not entirely. I'm half human, half witch. Mom's a witch, dad's a human. Making me and my brothers human hybrids.

Now, I'm the only one in our family who even knows that we're witches.  
My mom doesn't even know, and she's the only full witch in the family. My brother's don't know, and my parent's know.

I only know because of my immortal because when we found out Austin and I were Blood Bound, they knew I had to be immortal. Or partially immortal.  
Tora, a witchy friend of Austin's family, recognized the signs and pegged me to be a half-breed witch.

I have magic lessons with Toraeveryday after school, to make up for lost time. I've been picking up magic pretty quickly. Which is weird 'cause I'm not a particularly fast learner.  
Anyway, I haven't told my family they're witches because one of two things would happen.

They would believe me because inside they always knew they weren't human.  
Or, they would call me crazy and have me locked away.

I understood both oppionions. I always knew I was different then 'normal' people. And, it was hard to believe in the mythical stuff.  
If I hadn't seen the proof myself I would've never believed either.

But, I had seen the blood. . .seen the fangs.  
But, it's a terribly long story and I'm not gonna get into it. It hurts my head to remember all of it.

I moaned unhappily, and rolled over on my other side. I was facing the window now, and could see all the snow that had blanketed the backyard.  
They had said it would snow at least a foot last night, and for once the weather man was right.

I always loved the way the snow looked. It would stick to the tree branches, and coat the grass. It made everything look all glittery and white.  
Like some kind of magical icey forest.

I noticed a black raven perched in the tree right next to the window. He was perched in the branch a foot from my window.  
He was looking at me with wise intelligent eyes. It was none other then Raziel.

Raziel was a shape-shifter. He had the ability to switch his form into a raven. He had protected me from Shadow Slayers (human assassins) and promised to protect me from then.  
The Shadow Slayers were still after me, but there hadn't been another encounter sense. But, I frequently saw Raziel the raven. I hadn't seen human Raziel in a while though.

I groaned and got to my feet, kicking the thick blankets off me.  
I drifted to the window, wanting to get a closer look at the snow.

I opened the window and shivered at the cold air.  
Raziel cawed at me in greeting.

"Morning Raziel" I said cheerily.  
"Who the hell are you talking to?"

I spun around to see Jake standing in my doorway. Jake was my older brother, and was a general pain in the ass. He looked kinda like me. With the crystal blue eyes, mildly tan skin, and mahogany hair. His mahogany shaggy hair was disheveled from sleep, and his eyes were half closed. He had on boxers and a t-shirt. Pleasant. . .

"The raven" I said, rollling my eyes and gesturing to the window.  
"You named the bird?" he asked, surprised, "It's a wild animal"

"Well, so are you, but mom and dad still gave _you _a name" I retorted.  
He snorted, and rolled his eyes. "Are you coming downstairs or what" he asked impatiently "Mom's cookin' breakfast. . ."

I rolled my eyes, "When isn't she cooking?" I asked rhetorically.  
"Are you 'comin or what" he demanded.

"Duh, of course I am. The sooner we eat the sooner we get to open presents" I said with a dramatic eye roll.  
"Mhm. . .well, I'll see you downstairs. And put some pants on why don't you" he muttered as he stalked away.

I looked down at my over-sized t-shirt, which I used as a night shirt.  
It was big and black and almost reached my knees.

"You first!" I called after him.  
"Real funny, Becca" he muttered, mostly to himself. But, I still heard.

Pushing all my worries about Austin out of my head, I ambled downstairs.  
My whole family was gathered in the kitchen.

My mom was in her pajamas and cooking something on the stove. My dad was in his pajamas too and was sitting at the table. He was actually involved in the conversation. Jake was hunched over a massive stack of pancakes eating like-well, like a boy. Ken was sitting next to him, stretching across the table to get a chocolate chip muffin. Jake and Ken were twins and basically looked the same. Except Ken had a more serious face and shorter hair. He was also a thousand times more quiet then Jake, but somehow just as annoying. And my older sister, Lydia, was sitting in her old chair. She had her brunette hair pulled into an oddly elegant bun for so early. She was taking dainty bites of her food, sitting straight and regal in her seat.

Lydia is my older sister, who was currently in her junior year of college. She was home for Christmas, and I was thrilled. Because I wasn't the only girl in the family (I don't count my mom, shes an adult.) Lydia was a really good big sister, but we're kinda different. She's kinda prissy, and, but gives great advice.

She had the same bright blue eyes, and mahogany hair. She was prettier then I was, but I'm proud to say I got the better body. Bigger breasts, and more curves.  
Lydia had always gotten a lot of guys, and been generally popular. She reminded me a little of Kate. Except Kate wasn't nearly as prissy.

"Merry Christmas" I mumbled, taking my usual seat.  
"Merry Christmas" my mom said cheerily.

She danced over to the table and placed a plate of blueberry pancakes in front of me.  
"Thanks Mom" I muttered, digging into my pancakes. I seriously adore blueberry pancakes.

I instinctively glanced at the living room, where the tree was.  
The presents had been under it for several days, but there were even more today. My parents always waited 'till Christmas day to put out the big presents. . .

My mom poured herself some coffee and joined us at the table. She nibbled at a muffin too.  
"So, Lydia, how are classes?" my mom asked sociably. Lydia had only gotten here last night, so we hadn't had much time to talk.

"Classes are good" Lydia said "After break, I'm starting my internship at this advertising agency."  
"Oh, that's wonderful, honey" my mom gushed.

"Yea, and I'm _this _close to having a 4.0 GPA. If I could just get my grade up in Marketing class. . . and oh my God, Becca, the_ hottest _guy sits next to me in that class!" she trilled.  
I smiled, Lydia knew I loved to hear about hot guys. . .

"Cool, what's he look like?" I wondered. My mother shook her head at us, smiling. Jake rolled his eyes, and my dad snorted. Ken didn't give a damn as usual.  
"Tan, tall, dark shaggy hair, really intense eyes. . . ." Lydia told me "He's really smart too. . .his name is Robbie"

"Interesting, interesting. . ." I mused "Did he ask you out?"  
She grinned, "Yea, just a couple of days ago! We only got to go out once, but it was great! I can't wait to go out with him again"

"Cool" I agreed.  
"Yea, and theres this other hot guy in that class! David, he's soooo cute! And, oh my God, he has a British accent!"

"British accents are hot" I agreed.  
"Yea, I know. So, kid, how's your love life?" she wondered, smiling.

"You remember Austin?" I asked.  
"Your friend Kate's brother? Yea, I remember him" Lydia said.

"Well, he's my boyfriend now" I told her, shrugging.  
"No way!" she exclaimed "That is soooo cool! He was so cute! I haven't seen him since he was like 14. . . I'm dieing to see what he looks like now. I bet he's gorgeous now!"

I laughed at her excitement. Ken snorted and rolled his eyes. He wasn't a big Austin fan. . .  
Jake just rolled his eyes, and my dad made a face. My mom just laughed lightly and smiled.

"You won't be disappointed" I assured her.  
She laughed, "So, how long have you two been dating"

1 month, 3 weeks, and 5 days.  
Well, I'm not gonna say that and sound like a freak.

"Like 2 months" I said.  
"Coooool. . .isn't his family like really rich too?" she wondered.

"Yep" I chirped, trying to hide my smug feelings, "Really rich"  
"An extra bonus. . .congrats, sis, you've won the boy lottery" she joked.

I laughed, "God, I've missed you so much. It's so boring around here without you"  
"I believe that" Lydia said "Mom and Daddy are never home. And Jake and Ken are such surly little punks"

Ken grumbled something unintelligible. While Jake took the offensive.  
He grabbed the extra blueberries off the side of his plate and put them on his spoon. Then he bent the spoon back and let go. Flinging blueberries at Lydia.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed, pushing away from the table, "You little jerk! I'm gonna take a bat to your laptop!"  
"Then I'll just flush your cellphone down the toilet" he threatened.

"Do that and your dead" she promised, and then he flicked more blueberries at her.  
"Oh, that's it!" she said, and ran around the table towards him.

Jake got up from his chair immediately, and bolted.  
Lydia chased after him, calling death threats.

They disappeared into the dining room, which was invisible to the people of the kitchen.  
I could still hear them screaming at each other, though. There was only one person on the planet who fought more with Jake then I did. And that was Lydia.

Mom sighed dreamily, "It's just like the old days"  
I arched an eyebrow at her. My mom had always been strange, perhaps because she was a full witch.

She grabbed my dad's hands across the table, and I had to hold back the vomit.  
Old people affection. . .grossness.

My dad smiled at her, but their sweetness was cut off by a loud crashing sound.  
"What was that!!" my dad demanded, pushing away from the table.

"Jake did it!" Lydia screamed.  
"Did not!" Jake shouted.

"Both of you, cut it out" my dad grumbled, sitting back down.  
Lydia and Jake came back into the kitchen. Lydia shoved Jake and he stumbled. He flipped her the bird and she stuck out her tongue. All behind our parents backs of course.

"So, Daddy, can we open presents now?" Lydia asked sweetly, sounding like a little kid.  
"Sure thing, honey" my dad said. She always was daddy's little girl. . .

We finished breakfast in the next few minutes, and then helped mom clear off the table. Then Ken, Dad, and I helped mom with the dishes. While, Lydia and Jake cleaned up the glass from the broken china dish. Once all that was done, we all headed into the living room.

Dad sat in his usual chair, and my mom sat on the arm of his chair.  
Lydia sat Indian-style on the floor next to the tree. Looking especially excited. She always did love presents.

Jake sat on the floor, petting Stanley (our dog) absently.  
Ken and I leaned against the front of the couch.

"Who wants to open the first present?" my mom asked.  
"Oh, I do!" Lydia trilled "I'm the first born, it's only fair"

"Okay sweetheart, that seems fair" my mom agreed.  
I rolled my eyes. Although I liked Lydia, and she was by far my favorite sibling, I still felt that natural instinct of sibling rivalry.

"Yays!" she said, examining the presents, "I think I'll open this one first"  
She selected a box about the size of a toaster oven. It was wrapped in pink sparkly wrapping paper, with a big 'ol white bow on top.

"I wonder what it is . . . " she mumbled as she ripped off the paper. We weren't in to saving wrapping paper. . .  
When she finally stripped the present she exclaimed "Ohhhhhhhh! _Stilettos_! They're soooooooooooooo pretty! Thanks Mom, thanks Daddy! Oh, Becca, aren't these gorgeous!"

She showed me the contents of the box. Black strappy _Stiletto_ heels. . .not bad. Pretty actually.  
I wasn't sure if she had asked for those shoes or if it was a lucky guess on my parents part.

"Ohhhh, nice" I told her.  
"I know right!" she trilled.

It took us about an hour for us to all open our presents. We all had a nice haul. Even our parents had some nice new things.  
From each other, and from us. Lydia was especially proud of her presents for them. Because she had worked an extra shift at the campus coffee shop to afford them.

My presents consisted of, a new laptop, new converse, 50$, a new book series I wanted, some new clothes, a new make-up set, fishnet stockings, and a gift certificate to _Hot Topic.  
_Most of my presents were from my parents. But, some were from my siblings. The gift certificate was from Jake, and the 50 bucks from Ken. The stockings and make-up were from Lydia.

I had given Lydia an adorable leather jacket I had seen at Barneys, during my second shopping spree with Austin. I gave Jake and Ken money, since I didn't know what to get them.  
I was generally satisfied with my gifts and the day in general.

After presents I went upstairs and put on my purple pajama pants with the guitars on it. My legs were freezing in just the t-shirt.  
When I came back downstairs, everyone was still gathered in the living room.

Lydia was smelling the new perfumes she had gotten. Mom was sitting on the couch, with her feet curled up under her. She was fingering her new diamond necklace, staring at it dreamily. Dad had been saving up for it for months, because he was sure she would love it. My guess is, he was right. Dad was at the computer, helping Jake activate his new IPod. Ken was lounging in Dad's chair, playing his new PSP.

I sat down on the couch next to my mom and picked up the remote.  
I flipped through the channels idly. Until, I reached a channel showing _"A Christmas Story" _

"Oh!" my mom trilled "Keep it on! I love this movie!"  
I left it on, and put the remote on the couch next to me.

For the next half an hour, we all did our own things in the living room. We were all half-watching the movie too.  
Except my mom, who was completely engrossed in the film. Laughing, and commenting throughout it.

I was pretty content with not doing anything for the rest of the day.  
Just chilling on the couch, spending time with my family.

Then, Stanley began barking two seconds before the doorbell rang. I was surprised, who would come by on Christmas?  
"Who on Earth could that be?" my mom wondered "Don't they know it's Christmas?"

I shrugged, and got up from the couch. I headed over to the door to answer it.  
Stanley tried to push past me, wanting to see who was outside. But, I grabbed him by the collar and held him back while I opened the door.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Austin. His blonde hair was all disheveled as usual, sense he didn't care enough to fix it. His wide silver eyes were sparkling, and there was a smirk on his handsome face. He was clearly happy and amused. He had on jeans and his grey _Northface_ jacket. In his hands was a small box with gold wrapping paper.

"Merry Christmas" he told me in oh so hot voice. If someone tells you voices can't be hot, they are _so _wrong.  
"Merry Christmas" I told him, leaning forward to peck him on the lips. It was difficult because I was still holding back Stanley, but I managed.

"What are you doing here?" I wondered.  
"I'm sorry, is this a private party" he asked with mock-surprise.

I rolled my eyes, and moved out of the way so he could come in. I dragged Stanley out of the way too.  
Austin came in and shut the door behind him. I released Stanley and he bounded towards Austin. He sniffed Austin's legs and ran circles around him, whining happily.

Austin pet him absently, because all that dog wanted was attention.  
"Hi everyone" Austin told to my family.

"Hi Austin" my mom said cheerily, she always liked Austin. Most people did. . .  
"Hi, Mrs. Callaway" Austin said politely.

"How's your mother?" my mom wondered. She was a good friend of Austin's mother.  
"She's good. . .she told me to tell you to stop by some time" Austin said.

"Oh, that'd be wonderful. I haven't seen Helen in so long. . ." my mom trailed off thoughtfully.  
"Hey Austin" my dad grunted. He didn't have a problem with Austin, but he didn't show any signs of liking him, either.

Jake and Ken both glared daggers at Austin. Austin pretended not to notice, seeing as he already had enough problems with my brothers. He just stood there, looking innocent.  
So, I reciprocated by giving Jake and Ken both an icy glare.

I noticed Lydia staring at Austin with an open mouth. Which she promptly shut.  
"And you remember Lydia, right Austin?" I asked.

"Yea, hey Lydia" Austin said sociably.  
"Hi Austin" she said, looking dazed.

"So, your parents were fine with you just leaving on Christmas?" I asked Austin.  
He shrugged, "Yea, they were cool with it. I just have to be back in like an hour. . ."

"Oh, okay. . .isn't your older brother in town?" I wondered.  
"Yea, but he called and said that 'the storm slowed him down.' But, my guess is he was just running late anyway. He said he'll be up tomorrow" Austin explained.

Austin's older brother, Alex, was about 33. But, he appeared to be around Lydia's age. Austin and Kate had been born when Alex was 16. And, the year before the Kardigan's moved to Cold Springs, Alex had moved out. He visited on Christmas and such holidays, like Lydia. I had met him several times before. The story was that Alex went to boarding school and then to college. Because, Austin's parents seemed to young to have a son who was an adult when Austin and Kate where only 5. It would seem too suspicious . . .

"Oh, okay. . .so, did you come here just to ditch your family or to say hi to mine" I wondered.  
Please don't be here to break up with me, please don't be here to break up with me. . .

"Actually, I came to bring you this" he said, lifting up the gold box.  
Oh, thank God!

"Oh, I was gonna give you yours tomorrow, but I'll get it now. . . wait here" I commanded, and ran up the stairs.  
I headed into my room, and dug around for Austin's present.

Lydia had followed me up, and was now leaning in the doorway.  
"Oh my God, he is so gorgeous!" Lydia gushed "Even hotter then Robbie. And, damn, is that saying something!"

"I know" I said, still searching, "But remember two things. 1. he's my boyfriend. And 2. he's a minor. Remember that before you do anything"  
She waved a hand dismissively, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna make a move for him. Kid probably couldn't handle me anyway. . ."

I laughed, "Probably not . . . I was just making sure"  
"Yea" she sighed dreamily "I just like to look at him"

I shook my head at her as I grabbed Austin's present.  
I headed down the stairs, and Lydia followed.

In the living room, Austin was sitting on the second empty couch. Jake was uploading songs on to his IPod, and Ken was watching the tv. Dad was sitting on the couch with mom.  
Lydia went over to sit with mom and dad, and I sat down next to Austin.

"Here you go" he said, handing me the gold box.  
I shook it, and listened. "Now, what could this be. . ."

"You wouldn't have to guess if you just opened it" he told me.  
I rolled my eyes at him, and began to peel off the wrapping paper. To reveal a _Droid _box.

I squealed in delight. Not something I do a lot of. . .  
"You got me a new cellphone!" I squeaked.

"Yep" he said, grinning gorgeously.  
"Oh my God, Lydia!" I called "Look what Austin got me!"

She got up from her seat and pranced over.  
I excitedly showed her the cellphone box.

"Ohhhhh" she said in appreciated "Cute and rich. . .damn, sis, you sure can pick him"  
Austin raised an eyebrow and I just shook my head at him.

"Okay, here's yours" I told him, handing him the envelope. I was glad I had over-did my present, so now my present was just as good as his.  
"Oh, yay, an envelope" he said sarcastically "I'm always excited to open one of these"

I shoved his shoulder, "Just shut up and open it"  
"Pushy, pushy" he said, opening the envelope.

He reached inside and pulled out the tickets.  
"No way" he said, examining the tickets, "You got my Three Days Grace tickets? Wow, how cool are you"

"Extremely" I supplied. He smiled, and reached over to hug me.  
"Yea, seriously. I can't wait to take you to this" he said.

"I know, me either" I said.  
Okay, so it's apparent that Austin is not breaking up with my any time soon. And that I've been panicking for no reason.

I mean, he bought me a pricey phone and is super excited to be taking me to a concert a month from now.  
Nope, don't see a break up any time soon in our future.

* * *

**Hope u like it! Ik the beginning part that just tells u wat u already no is boring. . .but u no in the beginning of a sequel u kinda have 2. Also, ik it may have been a little confusing with Alex. . .i didn't xplain his character's story very well. . .but yea. Also, I have pics of Lydia, Buffy, Princess Aurora, and Princess Fama on Jazper1843Hale's profile. Just 2 let u no. Anyway, thnxs 4 staying with me 4 the next instalment n im hopeing it's gonna b even better the first! n o yea, plz review! :)**


	2. Jealousy

**_****Kate's POV**** _**

Becca is under the impression that my brother is gonna break up with her. She's been stressing about it for weeks.  
It's crazy. She clearly doesn't realize how head-over-heals-in-way-over-his-head in love my brother is with her.

I think it's plainly obvious. He follows her around like a puppy, and buys her expensive presents. He talks on the phone with her for hours, the few hours of the day when they're not together. He drives her to dance rehearsal everyday after school before going to football practice. He never goes out without her. If your having a conversation with him, he's most likely texting her and not even paying attention to you. He doesn't even mind when she calls him 'Aussie' in public. He takes her out to dinner even though he doesn't eat. He'll take her to see a movie she really wants to see, even though he thinks it's gonna suck. He reads her favorite books so they have even more to talk about together. He'll go shopping with her for hours, and not complain. Because, secretly, he's just happy to be with her and see her have fun. He'll tell her that he loves her at school, and not care what his friends say. He'll let her drive his car if she really wants to. He hasn't even pushed for sex because he doesn't want to make her uncomfortable. Honestly, Austin is so in love with her that you could hold him at knife point and you still wouldn't be able to make him break up with her.

Like, Becca is any better. She'll use telepathy to talk to him whenever your trying to talk to her. She'll mouth off the teacher just so she can get detention with him. She lets him take her to expensive restaurants even though she would be fine with going to McDonalds. She'll watch boy-ish action movies with him, and sometimes even get into it too. She swears to God that he's more sensitive then anybody gives him credit for. She braved a freak thunderstorm to stop him from hurting himself. She'll sit in the woods alone when he's at a Council meeting, so she can use telepathy to see if the Council hurts him. And when he comes home from a particularly horrible Council meeting and he's pratically crying, she'll hold him until he falls asleep. She'd rather sit with him doing nothing then go to a 50% off sale at _Hot Topic. _And, sometimes, she'll let him win an argument just so they can make up. She would march down to Hades and beat the crap out of the Council (even if it killed her) if we ever gave her the chance. She'll tell her parents she's having a sleepover with me, even though we all know she's actually having a sleepover with Austin. She even lets him drink her blood. And, we all know, that nothing runs deeper then blood.

And Austin will never break up with Becca. He'd rather be Aurora's Blood Donor. . . anyday. And that is seriously saying something.  
Soon, she'll realize that Austin and her are a solid deal. They're Blood Bound. . .that's an immortals equivalent to a soul mate. Becca and Austin are most defiantly soul mates.

I know all of this because Becca's my best friend and Austin's my twin brother. I know them, better then anyone. I know Becca perfectly because we've been friends for years. And Austin is my twin brother, and it's my job to look out for him. It's my mission in life, according to the prophecy. To keep Austin safe from anything and everything. Now, that had always sounded like a hollow existence to me. I used to always think _"What about me? What about my happiness? When do I get to take care of myself?" _But, it's been a while since I've thought that. Protecting Austin has always seemed like second nature to me, and I learned to stop whining about it. Because, honestly, Austin had the worse part of the deal. First off, he has to deal with me watching over him all the time. And, second, he has to basically save the world. And nobody even knows what from. So, to keep the world safe from this unknown evil, Austin had to be kept safe. By Lykaios, Domingo and I.

Now, nobody considers me to be Austin's bodygaurd. Nobody has to, yet. For now, I'm just his sister. But, one day, it will be my soul purpose in life to keep him safe. Just like the prophecy said. Even though, it already seems like it's my soul purpose in life. But, that doesn't mean I'm consumed by this goal. I have my own life, I have someone who loves me. I have Domingo. He loves me, and cares about me. And I feel exactly the same way about him too. It's just . . . complicated.

One, because we're both dedicated to protecting Austin. . . and each other. How can you devote your life to two people? Two people in completely different ways? One, your twin brother who you've sworn to protect. And the love of your never ending life? It's all so difficult and confusing. I constantly wonder, What if? What if I had to choose between protecting Austin or Domingo? What if I chose Domingo? Would the apocalypse be my fault then, or fate's? What if I chose Austin? Would I ever really be happy again without Domingo? I didn't intend to find out the answers, however.

Another, less pressing, issue was the whole "Blood Mutt" thing. Really, it's a silly concept. Werewolves and vampires being together is distasteful? Whomever came up with that is a truly simple-minded person. I mean, sure, it's a little weird. But, my vampire brother is in love with a half human, half witch. I think we know how to deal with strange couples. I never really understood why people looked down on vampire/werewolf pairings. It's always been a mystery to me. It's mostly vampires who think it's distasteful anyway. The stuck-up vampires who think they're better then everyone else, the one's who give the rest of us a bad reputation. Most werewolves don't think there's anything wrong with vampire/werewolf couples. Many vampires, of course, think that werewolves are second class citizens. Dogs, that's how they look at it. It's disgusting. Werewolves are strong and intelligent. . . and stuck-up vampires need to get that through their thick heads. And they wonder why the other races think we're stuck up.

I don't think I'm stuck-up at all. I think all the other races are just as good as us, even humans. _Vampires _should be especially respectful to humans. Without them, we have no blood. They're the only reason we can live. And, some of us vampires, used to _be _humans. So, honestly, being prejudiced against them is ridiculous. I, for one, respect humans very much. Especially my blood donors (although, I don't like to call them that, it's derogatory.) I take good care of my blood donors. Like my newest one, Aidan. I never drank too much of his blood, not wanting to make him weak. And then, after drinking, I would use a little venom hypnotizing to wipe his memory. Then, I would bring him somewhere to lie down and let him sleep off the blood loss. Then, of course, every 5 days we would do a blood exchange. That would keep him from getting weak or sick. I was always careful as to not abuse my blood donors.

Aidan was currently sleeping on the fluffy couch in my room. I had just fed from him and he was now sleeping off the blood loss. That's where Austin and Becca are lucky. Becca is half-immortal so feeding sessions don't drain her as much as a human. A human blood donor needs to sleep for about an hour or so after feeding to regain strength. Also, the venom scary to wipe their memories, makes them drowsy and dizzy. Austin didn't have to inject venom into Becca because she didn't need to forget.

I sighed, and got off my bed. I walked past Aidan, and ruffled his dirty blonde hair. He was pretty cute, but I don't do that with my blood donors. Not anymore. Ever since Domingo and I were officially together, I hadn't used my blood donors for. . .ugh, my own sexual pleasure. I still had to kiss them at school and such. Because, well, they were posing as my boyfreinds. . .it had to look like it. But, other then that, I only used them for blood. Then, they were free to go.

Well, after about 8 months. This was Aidan's first week actually. The blood loss affects them most in the beginning, but as time goes on they're endurance builds. And by the time I'm done with them, they're actually much stronger and more enduring then before. Also more obedient, yet somehow more confident. I like to think that I'm doing them a favor that way. Although, they're really doing me a favor.

I considered waking up Aidan, just for someone to talk to, but decided against it. This was his first week, only his 4th feeding. He needed to sleep for now. I was just so bored, though. Domingo, Tora, and the guys weren't staying with us anymore. But, Domingo came by pretty much everyday. So did Tora, she would give Becca magic lessons here after school everyday. Jupiter and Mars always came over on Friday's looking for a party. And Ralph, and Diablo came by on Sundays to watch the game. But, they weren't here today. It was the day after Christmas. They were all visiting family. Yes, even immortals celebrate Christmas. Domingo was at his sister Yori's house, spending time with his parents and such.

Sighing boredly to myself, I drifted to the window. I looked out at the snow covered backyard. Austin and Becca were playing back there. Running around in the snow, throwing snowballs at each other. Acting like children, I could hear them laughing faintly through the glass. I sighed heavily to myself, feeling abandoned. I mean, Becca and I were best freinds first. And, now, she'd rather spend time with Austin then me. It makes me feel. . .well, kinda lonely. I mean, I'm happy for them, I really am. But, I still feel excluded. . .the third wheel.

I sighed, yet again. Wistfully, I watched Austin and Becca playing in the snow. Austin began pelting Becca with snowballs, and she ran from him, screaming happily. She scraped together snowballs and threw them at him hastily. But, Austin made the snowballs faster then she did, so he had the upper hand. Becca was weaving through the trees at the edge of the yard, trying to hide. Austin thought himself pretty clever, and climbed agilely up a tree while she was looking for a hiding place. She settled for hiding behind the same tree, ironically. After a second of quiet, she peeked into the yard, to find it empty. "Austin?" I heard her ask, although it was muffled by the window. Then, Austin dropped out of the tree directly in front of her, and she screamed in surprise. Austin double-over in laughter, happy, non-stop, laughter. Becca glared at him for a second, but it quickly vanished and she began to laugh too. She fell to her knees next to him. And they continued laughing for several minutes. I could hear them bantering faintly, adding to their amusement. Eventually, they both layed back in the snow. Becca was clinging to his side, and Austin had his arm around her shoulder. I could barely hear bits and pieces of a whispered, lovey-dovey conversation.

I made a distasteful sound in the back of my throat, and closed my curtains in a huff. Their ability to become so absorbed in each other, and completely ignore me was amazing. I mean, I was the reason they even knew each other! I'm the reason they're together. They wouldn't of even been friends if it wasn't for me. I befriended Becca and brought her into my house, introducing her to Austin. They wouldn't be together if it wasn't for me. Okay, maybe they would. . .eventually. Because they're soul mates, they would've found each other eventually. But, it could've taken _years. _But, thanks to me they were happy and together _right now. _You'd think they'd be grateful, or at least pay attention to me. But, no, they're both too love-sick to even notice anyone else. It's like they're blind to everything and everyone but each each other.

If they want to be in their own little world, that's fine by me. I don't care. I have Domingo, and all my friends. If my twin wants to run around with my best friend, that's his business. It doesn't concern me. I don't care if they spend all their time with each other. I don't care if being around the two of them makes me feel hollow. I have Domingo, I don't need to feel envious of their happiness. Just because Domingo is busy all the time and we don't get to spend time together as much as some people. . .that's no reason to be upset. I'm lucky. . .anybody without a partner who hangs around them probably feels lonely and sad. Because they pratically radiate love and happiness. . . Which is probably why they spend every waking moment together. Forgetting everything else, and ignoring everyone else. I don't care if they ignore me. I don't care if their happier then I am. Because they get to be with each other when I don't get to be with my love. I don't care. I don't care if I never get to spend time with my brother because he cares more about his girlfriend then his twin. I don't care. I also don't care if I don't get to spend time with my best friend because she'd rather be with my brother. I don't care, I really don't care. I'm not upset, and I'm resentful.

And I'm most defiantly, absolutely _not _jealous.


	3. Everything Burns

_Ik some of u didn't get wat Kate was jealous of. So, allow me 2 clear it up. Kate was jealous that she cudnt spend time with either Becca or Austin bcuz they were always together. She was also kinda jealous that Domingo was always busy n she cudnt b with him all the time, like Becca n Austin. But mostly the first one. . .anyway, just wanted 2 clear that up. I had a lot of fun writing in Kate's POV. But, now were back to **Becca's POV. **So, enjoy n plz review :)_

**_"Precognitions" _**

I ran around the yard, squealing and screaming happily as Austin chased after me with snowballs.  
I weaved through the trees at the edge of the woods, trying to find cover from the snowballs.

Austin chased after me, even going at human speeds he was faster then me.  
I had given up on fighting back and decided on just running away, and hiding.

I scanned the patio for a good spot to hide, and found none. So, I turned back to the trees and leaned against one. Hiding myself from the view of the front yard.  
I stayed there for a minute. Breathing heavily and smiling to myself. I could tell my cheeks were flushed bright pink, and my hands were freezing through my gloves. But I was still having fun.

I expected Austin to find me in seconds and start pelting me again. But he didn't.  
Suspicious, I leaned around the tree to peer into the front yard. It was empty.

"Austin?" I called, and got no answer. Puzzled, I leaned back against the tree.  
And then Austin dropped out of one of the branches in front of me. I screamed in surprise, and he began to laugh at me.

He fell to his knees with uncontrollable laughter, and I glared at him. He almost gave me a heart-attack! Did he think that was funny??  
Apparently he did . . . because he just kept laughing. The sound of his laughter made my anger dissipate. I exchanged the glare for a grin, and started laughing too.

"You scared . . .me half to. . .death!" I said between laughter.  
"You should have. . .seen it. . . coming!" he managed, still laughing.

I was overcome by laughing, and fell to my knees too. Barely noticing that my knees were freezing because of my thin jeans.  
We tried unsuccessfully to stop laughing.

"You should've . . . seen . . . your face!" Austin said between fits of laughter.  
"I know!" I laughed "You scared the . . . living hell outta me!"

Soon, our laughter died down. Once all that was left of my laughter was a few giggles, I layed back in the snow.  
Austin, who had stopped laughing but was still smirking, layed down next to me.

I clung to his side, wrapping my arms around his waist. He smiled and put an arm around my shoulder, pulling me even closer.  
I stared into his wide dark-lashed silver eyes for a few minutes, getting lost. He stared back into my eyes, seeming just as lost.

After minutes of silence, I randomly said "I love you"  
"I love you too" he told me, absently stroking my hair.

"You know, I thought you were gonna break up with me yesterday" I told him, feeling kind of embarrassed.  
"Why would you think that?" he asked, confused.

I shrugged, "It was around the time you usually dump your girlfriends. You know, the expiration date?"  
"I would never break up with you" he promised "Not in a thousand years. . ."

"I'm gonna hold you to that promise, you know" I warned.  
"I know . . . and a thousand years from now you'll see that I was serious" he said.

"Oh, the joys of being immortal" I murmered, smiling.  
"My favorite perk of being immortal, would be getting to do this forever" he told me, and then kissed me.

His lips were soft and warm, a pleasant contrast to the cold. The kiss wasn't rough, but extremely sweet. My favorite kind. I shifted so that I was laying across him. He moved his arms to wrap around my waist. And I moved my hands to his head and intertwined my fingers into his snowy hair. As his lips moved from my lips to my jaw, I felt a tingle go down my spine. He was gonna feed from me again, he hadn't fed yesterday and I had been disappointed. I loved it when he fed from me, I truly was a venom junkie.

His lips trailed down to my neck, to the bite mark he usually drew blood from. I felt the tip of his fangs lightly press against my skin. And then he bit it, and I felt that one instant of intense pain. Which quickly faded to a warm tingly feeling. It coursed through my body, making every cell tingle. Sometimes it made me feel drowsy and kinda dazed. Other times it made me feel alert, and energized. This one was the latter. As each pint of blood left my body, it was like another worry was leaving too. By the time he stopped drinking, I felt completely careless and relaxed. But wide-awake, and energized too.

When he finished drinking, his lips moved back up to mine. And the kiss that was previously interupted, began again.  
We lay there for an unknown amount of time, until I heard a voice.

"Why hello, little brother. Nice to see you too. Who's your friend?"

Instinctively embarrassed, I rolled off of Austin hastily and fell on my back into the snow.  
When I looked up, I was looking up at Alex Kardigan.

He looked the same as he did the last time I saw him, two years ago. Exactly the same. He looked kind of like Austin actually. Well, they had the same features. Their faces were pretty similar, except Alex's face looked a little more mature. His eyes weren't as childlike and wide as Austin's. And they weren't as darkly lashed. But other then that they had pretty similar facial structure. They also had similar hair. Alex's pale blond hair was short and spikey. It wasn't as long or as disheveled as Austin's though, who's bangs were constantly falling into his eyes. Alex wore a smirk very similar to Austin's. Only, it wasn't quite as cute. Alex was extremely good looking, don't get me wrong. But Austin was somehow extremely hot, and adorable at the same time. . . Alex was wearing dark jeans and a navy blue sweater, and a grey scarf. Slung over one shoulder was a black duffle back.

"Alex!" Austin said, seeming pleased. He got to his feet in one fluid, very vampiric, motion. Once he was up, he offered me a hand. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet.  
"Hey Austin, wow, haven't seen you in a while" Alex mused, giving Austin a once over, "So, who's your friend"

"Oh, you remember Becca right, Alex?" Austin asked as an introduction.  
"Oh, yea. Kate's little friend. . . not so little now are we?" he asked, grinning at me. I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not. . .

"Nope" I chirped, deciding to take it as a compliment whether it was intended to be one or not.  
"Yet, I feel like I'm missing something" Alex said "If your Kate's friend then why are you kissing Austin in the backyard?"

"She's also my girlfreind" Austin added.  
"Ahhhh" Alex mused, seeming to get it, "And it's all coming together now"

Austin rollled his eyes at his brother, and I considered doing the same.  
"So, what's up?" Austin asked. It was a casual and subtle way to ask _"What the hell was so important you had to bother me?" _

Alex shrugged, "Just got here. Mom told me to come find you, Kate said you were in the backyard"  
"Oh, okay" Austin said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, "C'mon, Becca let's go"

Then, we all headed towards the house, and slipped into the unlocked back door. Mrs. Kardigan, Mr. Kardigan, and Kate were sitting in the living room.  
Once we entered, me and Austin sat next to Kate on one of the couches. And Alex sat next to his parents on the other couch.

"Before I say anything else, Alex, I should tell you that Becca knows about vampires. . .so you don't have to worry about that" Mrs. Kardigan said.  
"Oh, cool. . ." Alex said, and he seemed to relax his posture a bit.

"And, she's also a witch" Mr. Kardigan added.  
This threw Alex. "But. . .then how c'mon you guys told me she was human last time?" he asked, confused.

"We thought she was" Mr. Kardigan said with a shrug.  
"I thought I was" I grumbled.

"Elaboration please?" Alex asked.  
"I'm half human" I supplied "My father's a human, and my mother's witch. But, I grew up thinking I was a full human"

"So, wait, you never knew you were a witch?" Alex asked incredulously.  
"Nope" I said, popping my lips.

"I just think that's weird-" he stopped suddenly, and his eyes became unfocused.  
He slumped forward out of his seat and onto the floor. Everyone jumped out of their seats instinctively.

"Alex!" Kate shrieked.  
He was kneeling on the floor, hunched over with his eyes on the floor.

Mr. and Mrs. Kardigan rushed to him, and crouched down next to him. Mrs. Kardigan positioned herself in front of him, trying to look him in the eye.  
Mr. Kardigan knelt next to him, shaking his shoulder roughly.

"Alex! Alex!" Mr. Kardigan shouted, almost sounding angry.  
Mrs. Kardigan snapped her fingers in front of his face repeatedly.

Austin, Kate, and I watched on helplessly. Kate and Austin looked like they wanted to help, but didn't know what to do. Kate's hands fluttered around helplessly.  
Austin's jaw was tight and he was leaning froward slightly. I didn't have a clue what was going on.

"Alexanderon!" Mr. Kardigan snapped, defiantly sounding angry now, "_Alexanderon!"  
_"Stop it, Vulcan!" Mrs. Kardigan hissed, seeming panicked, "Yelling isn't gonna help! He can't hear you!"

"What's going on?" I whispered in Austin's ear.  
"It's just, he-well, it happens-" he stuttered, and then shrugged.

_Real _helpful, Austin. Now, I'm _even _more confused. This has happened before? Shouldn't they take him to some kind of doctor for. . .  
Well, I'm not sure what's wrong with him. Is he like, in a trance? That's what it looks like. . .

"Maybe some cold water . . . " Mr. Kardigan mused thoughtfully.  
Mrs. Kardigan swatted him, "Your not pouring water over him! Just. . .just give it a minute. He'll come to soon enough. . ."

Suddenly, Alex's body jolted, like he'd been tazzed. Then, he seemed to come out of the trance. Slowly, he lifted his eyes from the floor. They weren't unfocused anymore.  
He blinked a couple of time, and rubbed his temple like he had a headache.

Relief flooded Mrs. Kardigan's features, "Oh, are you okay, honey?" she breathed.  
He furrowed his eyebrows, "Yea, yea I'm fine" he muttered.

"What did you see" Mr. Kardigan demanded "What happened"  
Mrs. Kardigan swatted him again, "Give him a minute" she hissed.

"We have to know. What was it son" Mr. Kardigan demanded.  
"It was-it was her" he said, pointing a pale finger at me, "She's . . . the Lost Witch"

It went dead silent for a minute. Nobody spoke or even move. It was like there was some kind of unsaid rule not to do anything.  
But, of course Austin broke that rule. As he did every rule.

"That's crazy talk" he concluded.  
"I saw it" Alex hissed, it had an undertone of a whine. As if he was tired of people not believing him.

"What exactly did you see Alex?" Mr. Kardigan asked rationally, keeping his voice calm and soothing.  
"I saw her" Alex said "She has the locket."

"That's impossible" Austin hissed distastefully "It was burned a thousand years ago. Long after the Prima Strega had the vision"  
Alex shook his head stubbornly, "It didn't burn. The Prima Strega still has it . . . and she's gonna give it to _her" _

Austin snorted, "That's crazy. Even if the locket still existed (Which I'm not saying it does) why would she give the Collana to Becca?" he asked rhetorically.  
Okay, am I the only who's miserably confused. Honestly.

"Because she's her grandaughter" Alex said simply.  
It went dead silent for another moment, everyone stared at Alex.

"Alex, you have officially lost your mind. Were you smoking something before you got here?" Austin asked "Because, everyone knows that the Prima Strega doesn't have any kids"  
"Really" Alex retorted "Because I think Belinda would disagree."

Belinda was my mother's name. It wasn't a common name. . .there was no way he could be talking about anybody else.  
But how on Earth would he know my mother?

"I wouldn't bother asking her" Austin hissed "She doesn't even know she's a witch. . .she can't be the Prima Strega's daughter"  
"I can prove it!" Alex shouted heatedly.

"Okay, okay. That's enough" Mrs. Kardigan "Alex, you don't seem so well. Why don't you go lay down for a minute?"  
"No!" he shouted "I'm not sick! I know what I saw!"

She gave him a sympathizing look, "I know, honey. But that doesn't mean it's necessarily true. You've had incorrect visions before . . . maybe your just coming down with something"  
"No!" he shouted again, he was getting really angry, "I know it's true! I can prove it! Watch, I'll prove it!"

Nobody said anything, so he continued. "Becca, what is your mother's maiden name?" he asked me.  
Uncomfortable and confused I answered, "Strega, why?"

Everyone in the room went dead silent. Completely still, only achievable by vampires. There faces were especially ashen. They looked like statues.  
Except for Alex. Who had a triumphant light shining in his eyes.

"See!" he shouted smugly "See! I was right!"  
Everyone remained still and quiet. Like they couldn't make themselves react.

"Becca, do you know your maternal grandmother?" Alex asked me excitedly.  
"A little" I told him, feeling overcome by confusion, "I've only met her a few times. . .she's a little odd"

He laughed, it was kind of scary actually. Mostly because his silver eyes were looking kind of crazy.  
"Yes, and does she look like a grandmother?" he asked.

"No, well yea. . .she's old, if that's what you mean. But, she just doesn't _look _like a normal grandmother, like my other grandmother" I admitted, extremly confused.  
"Do you know why that is?" he asked me, grinning. His grin revealed his pointed canine teeth.

Before I could answer, the statues seemed to unthaw instantaneously.  
"That's quite enough" Mr. Kardigan said harshly, grabbing Alex's arm. He yanked him to his feet and he stumbled a little.

Mrs. Kardigan steadied him, and led him away from his father. Giving Mr. Kardigan an icey glare.  
"C'mon honey, why don't you lie down?" she said, and led Alex towards the downstairs guest room.

"Kate? Why don't you get your brother something to drink?" Mrs. Kardigan called.  
Kate nodded numbly, and disapeared into the kitchen.

Mr. Kardigan whipped around and literaly disapeared into his office. One minute he was standing in front of us, the next he was gone and the office door was slamming shut.  
"What's going on?" I asked, looking up at Austin's stoney exspression, "What was he talking about?"

"Come on" he said, grabbing my hand and leading me towards the stairs "We need to talk"  
I let him pull me up the stairs and into his room. He shut the door behind him.

He didn't sit down, he just paced back and forth around his room.  
I, for one, didn't feel like standing or pacing, so I sat down on the bed, cross-legged.

"So, would you care to explain what's going on" I asked polietly.


	4. Gypsies, Tramps, And Theives

**_"Gypsies and Witches"_**

He sighed heavily, "Alright. . .but keep in mind, we really don't know what's going on either"  
"Well, it would still be nice to be caught up with everyone else" I said.

He nodded absently, and sat down in his desk chair. He spun the chair around to face me.  
For a minute, he just stared at me, in a scrutinizing way. Like he was expecting to find some kind of difference in my appearance.

"What?" I asked.  
He shook his head, "Oh, sorry, nothing. . . . Okay, so let's start with the basics. The first thing you should know is, that Alex is a psychic"

That would of surprised me about 10 minutes ago. Now, after seeing that little episode, I had expected as much.  
"Okay. . . so, he what? Had a vision downstairs? About me?" I prompted.

He nodded and continued, "He had a vision of you getting the Collana Affascinata from the Prima Strega"  
"Okay, is that even English?" I asked. Seriously, I was getting tired of everyone using words that I don't understand.

"Uh, no" he admited "It's Italian actually. The Azimon originated in Italy, so are native language has some Italian words in it. . ."  
"Oh, well, would you mind translating then?" I asked.

"The Collana Affascinata is translated as, The Charmed Necklace. But, in English we just call it the Locket. And the Prima Strega, is the First Witch" he continued "The Prima Strega is the witch who had the vision about me. She's a psychic, like Alex. You see, the Prima Strega was on the First Council. She was a highly respected psychic, nobody ever questioned her visions. . .And when she had _the vision, _she swore it was going to change the world. . .So, of course everyone considered it a huge deal. Uh, remember how I described the prophecy to you that time? Well, I sorta left out some stuff. I didn't include most of the stuff about the Lost Witch, mostly because I didn't think it was important to the story. So, I'll just summarize that part now. Basically, she said that the Lost Witch was the only one who could use this sacred spell that turns off the blue fire. And the only person who knew the spell was the Prima Strega. She had it engraved into the inside of her locket. Lockets were never used to hold pictures back then. People would put poisons, ashes, locks of hair and stuff like that in them. Anyway, the Prima Strega said she would give the locket to the Lost Witch when she was born. Well, about 1,000 years ago, when the Azimon first colonized in America (long before the humans) King Zephuros (yes, the same one) ordered the locket to be burned. He didn't want anything to be able to stop the blue fire once it was discovered. So, it was burned" he shrugged.

"So, wait, now your telling me that the locket _wasn't_burned?" I clarified.  
He shrugged again, "According to Alex"

"So. . .you guys think I'm the Lost Witch?" I clarified.  
He nodded, "We all thought the Lost Witch was eliminated from the equation. Because, without the locket, she was useless. But, if Alex was right, and the locket wasn't burned. . ."

"It's possible that it wasn't burned" I added "I mean, she could've given him the wrong locket"  
"Yes, yes. . .that's very possible. Okay, now let me continue. This is where it gets interesting" Austin said.

"Oh, because so far it's been so dull and ordinary" I said sarcastically.  
He rolled his eyes and continued, "Now, you said your mother's maiden name is Strega, right?"

I nodded numbly. I didn't like where this was going. . .  
"Well, that means witch. And, I'm gonna take a lucky guess and say your maternal grandmother's name is Prima. Is that right?"

I nodded again. Oh my God. . .  
"Well, I think we can conclude that your grandmother is the Prima Strega" Austin said.

"But isn't she like thousands of years old!" I blurted.  
"Immortal, Becca, immortal" he reminded me.

"But, my mother's only 45! Why would the Prima Strega have children when she was thousands of years old? Why would she wait so long?" I reasoned.  
Austin shrugged, "My parents are several hundred years old. And they waited too. . .what's the rush when your immortal?"

"I-I guess. . ." I allowed "But, isn't the Prima Strega like really important? Wouldn't she live in one of the Azimon and do Council stuff? My mother grew up in Buffalo"  
"The Prima Strega hasn't been involved with Azimon affairs since the 1600's" Austin told me "She moved into the human world and nobody ever heard from her again"

"Ugh" I moaned "This is all so confusing!"  
"I know" he sympathized.

"When" I asked abrutly. I needed to know. When was this gonna happen.  
"When is what?" he asked.

"When is my grandmother gonna give me the locket" I elaborated.  
He shrugged, "I don't know. . .you'll have to ask Alex"

"I should probably wait to ask him. . ." I mumbled.  
"Yea, he's probably tired. . .those visions whipe him out" Austin agreed.

"Austin?" I asked timidly "How does somebody know if. . .if their psychic ?"  
He didn't question why I asked, like I expected him too. He probably didn't even suspect. . .

"Well" he said, thoughtfully "With Alex he'd go into these trances, and have these dreams and nightmares. So, it was pretty obvious. But, I hear not all psychics are like that. Some of them, like Alex and Prima Strega, only get significant visions. They don't get them all the time, but when they do they're in a trance. Other people, get visions all the time. Quick short little visions of random, possibly unimportant, events. They get them all the time, but they don't disturb their life really. Those people can also see the future at will. Then of course, they're are some people (very few of these those) that have a mixture of both. Usually they'll get little quick visions, but occasionally they'll get these significant trance-inducing ones. . ."

"Oh. . . ." I said, starting to feel sick. My stomach was totally flipping.  
"So, why did you wanna know?" he wondered curiously.

I gulped, "Because I think I'm psychic"  
He didn't freak like I expected. He just tilted his head to the side thoughtfully, "What makes you think that?"

"Well, I get these weird dreams. And these weird flashes. And there's this one. . .vision that I get _all _the time" I moaned miserably.  
"What's it a vision of?" he asked curiously.

"It's of this baby. . .this little blonde baby. At first, the baby was really pale and had extremely blue eyes. But, over time his eyes got darker and now they're like black. And the baby's skin got tanner. It's like, a little tanner then mine now. Sometimes I see your mother singing to him. . .and sometimes I see him in his crib crying. . ." I spilled.

"Interesting. . .well, theres one way to know for sure" he said.  
"Know what for sure?" I asked, semi-stupidly.

"If your psychic" he told me, spinning his chair around to face the desk. He grabbed a pen and a peice of paper and wrote something on it.  
"What number did I just write down?" he asked.

"How is this a legitimate test?" I demanded.  
He shrugged, "I think it's as good as any"

"Well, I want to do a more accurate test. Because, I know for a fact you wrote down the number 31" I said.  
He did a double take, "Hmmmm. . .well, that proves it"

"That proves nothing" I insisted "31 is your birthday. . .of course you'd write that down. . . I want to really test this"  
He sighed dramatically, "Oh fine, now I have to do all this spiritual shit. . ." he grumbled, getting up from his seat.

He went over to his closet, and grabbed some stuff off the shelf at the top. He placed the contents on the floor. I saw a weird deck of cards, a lighter, black candles, and some other stuff.  
"Get the lights, will you?" he directed, lighting the black candles.

I got off the bed and flicked off the lights. Then went to sit cross-legged across from Austin. The candles added some light to the room. A creepy glow illuminating just us.  
He took the candles and placed them around us, incircling us. Then he began to shuffle the cards.

"What are we doing" I asked him, I left the 'you freak' out but implied.  
"You wanted a legitimate test. . .well, you got it" he said, still shuffling the cards, "Your lucky I descend from gypsies. . ."

"You do?" I asked, shocked. They didn't _look _like gypsies.  
"Yea, on my mother's side" he said absently.

"Your mother doesn't look like a gypsy" I said matter-o-factly.  
"Yea, she did when she was human, though. When she changed it changed her eyes and hair. That happens a lot. People change to match their creator" Austin explained.

"Why was she changed?" I wondered curiously.  
"She was sentenced to burn under charges of witch craft" he elaborated "Ironic, I know"

"What happened?" I asked, intrigued.  
"My father had already been turned into a vampire some hundred years before. He knew my mother wasn't a witch and thought it unfair that she burn. So, he turned her" he told me.

"Wow. . .interesting story" I said "But, seriously, what are we doing?"  
"Tarot Cards" he told me.

"I don't know anything about Tarot Cards" I admitted.  
"That's the point" he said, and smiled.

The smile made a chill go down my spine. Sitting in the dark with him, with his eyes flickering yellow in the candlelight, while he shuffled tarot cards. It made me see that he could easily be a gypsy. And if I still had any doubts, his next words dissolved those.

"Pick a card" he purred, spreading the cards on the floor in front of him.  
Hesitatingly, I placed my hand on a card at random. I looked up at him questioningly, not sure whether to look at it or not.

"Now close your eyes and focus on that card" he directed.  
I can't believe I'm doing this. . .

I focused on the card, visualizing it in my head. The first thing I saw in my head was a blue sky with clouds. Their were angels flying around something in the center. .. but I couldn't see what it was. So I focused harder, and the image in the center became less fuzzy. Then, I realized, it was a compass.

"Uh, I see. . .a sky, and clouds, and angels. Their flying around. . .something that looks like a compas" I said cautiously. Then, I hestitantly opened my eyes.  
I looked to Austin to see if I was right. He just shrugged, "I'm not the psychic here. . . flip it over"

I flipped over the card, and saw the exact same image on the card. Exactly the same, creepingly so.  
"The Wheel Of Fortune" he mumbled "Well, that proves it. Your psychic. Not only did you know the _exact _image, but the Wheel Of Fortune also stands for symbolic visions and twists of fate. If that's not proof enough for you, I don't know what is"

I took all that in for a minute while he organized the cards back into a deck. He got up and flicked the lights back on. Then he knelt down and blew out the candles.  
Then, he gathered his supplies in his arms and put them back on the shelf.

"How do you know all this stuff about Tarot Cards anyway?" I asked randomly.  
"I told you, my mother's a gypsy. She has this entire house stocked with Tarot Cards, and candles and dream catchers. . ." he said, shrugging.

"But how do you know what they mean?" I asked.  
He shrugged again, "My mother likes to give people palm readings and tarot readings at random . . . you pick up on it"

I nodded numbly. I was unsuccessful in my attempt to distract myself. . .I had brought up the whole psychic thing so I wouldn't think to much about the lost witch thing. But, sadly, that had just brought up a whole new set of problems. Now, I was psychic _and _the lost witch. Oh God, I have a headache.

Austin sat down on the floor in front of me. "What's wrong?" he asked. He was acting oddly calm and collected right now, it was making me suspicious. . .  
"It's just a lot to take in" I mumbled.

"Yea, I know. . ." he sympathized. He put his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. He looked over my shoulder, and jumped to his feet.  
"Oh shit. I have a Council Meeting today. . .God damnit, it's in like an hour. . .I gotta get going" he said rapidly.

"Oh, okay" I said sadly, rising to my feet. I ambled out of his room and headed downstairs.  
The living room was clear. So, I avoided all members of the household.

And slipped out the backdoor.


	5. Know Your Enemy

**_"Interest and Apathy"_**

I trudged through the snow in the backyard towards the line of trees leading to the woods.  
I was going to go to the pond, where I could be alone while I slipped into Austin's head.

"Hey, where are you going?"

I spun around to see cute Aidan Johnson looking at me with a questioning expression. He was a cute basketball player who was Kate's new Blood Donor. His dirty blonde hair was messy, an extreme contrast to it's usual style. His jeans were slung low around his hips and he had on a red plaid shirt, it was a little wrinkled and the first few buttons were undone. Apparently Kate had been messing around with him a little. He looked a little dazed, but I could tell he was coming out of it. He was rubbing his eyes sleepily too. Kate must have fed from him not too long ago,

"Uh, I. . ." I stuttered nervously.  
Aidan was a human, he may find it weird that I was going into the woods alone. And I couldn't think of a good excuse either.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked, trying to distract him. Honestly, he's a jock, he's blonde, and a Blood Donor. How smart could he be?  
"Me and Kate were hanging out upstairs and. . . well, I guess I fell asleep. . ." he admitted sheepishly.

Poor guy, didn't have a clue that his girlfriend had drunk his blood and that had him knocked out. Must be tough to be a human Blood Donor, not having a clue what their doing to you. I had sympathy for Kate's Blood Donors. One reason was because they were guys, and it must be difficult for these big-shot guys to have to be the submissive one. Kate always chose hot jocks for Blood Donors, so these guys were not the type to be whipped. So, to see them being hypnotized into these obedient little love-struck puppies. . . you had to feel sorry for them. I had no sympathy for Austin's previous Blood Donors. They were all whores, used to doing whatever a guy wants.

"Oh, well that's strange" I mumbled.  
"So, what are you doing out here?" he wondered. Dammit he's not the stupid pretty boy I would of pegged him to be. Well, not _as_ stupid.

"Well, ummmmmmmm. . . I was looking an earing. . me and Austin were having a snowball fight out here earlier. . . And I can't find it now" I lied.  
"But your wearing both earings" he pointed out.

Instinctively, I reached up to touch my purple skull earing. Shit. . .  
"Did I say earing? I meant ring" I corrected the previous lie with another one.

"Oh. . . Well, I think it's safe to say your not gonna find it. There's like a foot of snow out here" he said.  
He didnt really seem to be buying my excuse. But, he seemed a little to out of it to care.

"Yea, I know" I said "It's not worth it."  
"Oh, okay . . ." he mumbled. Obviously, not believing me but not caring enough to pry.

"What are you doing out here anyway?" I wondered.  
"I came downstairs lookin' for Kate. . . I passed by the window and saw you wanderin' around in the snow" he said with a shrug.

"Oh. . . Well, ummm are you okay?" I asked, trying to change his attention, "You seem beat."  
"Yea" he mumbled, rubbing his temple, "I think I'm getting sick or something."

"Oh, well maybe you should go inside" I hinted "Kate will probably get you something hot." Kate _did _take good care if her Blood Donors, as any upstanding Azimon would.  
"Yea, yea" he muttered, turning around to go back inside.

I sighed and turned back towards the woods.  
"You coming?"

Damn, busted. Guiltily, I turned around to face him.  
"Oh, yea right" I said and I skipped inside behind him.

I hadn't wanted to come inside, but once in, I felt much warmer and was glad I'd come.  
I was only wearing red and black checkered skinny jeans, and a thin black jacket. It hadn't felt cold to me, but inside still felt much better.

Once inside, Aidan immediately went towards the kitchen. Where I could hear Kate talking to her mom.  
Instead of following him, I tiptoed over to the downstairs guest room. The door was slightly ajar, but I didn't hear any sounds coming from inside.

I felt bad about bothering him, but I had to talk to him. Besides, I would just peak in, if he's asleep I'll leave. If not, I'll stay and ask him.  
I took a deep breath for no reason, and pushed the door open slowly. It squeaked and I winced, expecting him to wake up and spazz on me.

There wasn't any noise of protest, so I poked my head through the half open door. Alex was laying on the picture perfect black bed. He was laying above the covers and sitting up. He was on his laptop and he was typing speedily. He looked absolutely normal, like the Alex I was used to. Not the raving psychic lunatic from before. . .

"Can I come in?" I asked, a little afraid that he would say no.  
"Sure" he said, thankfully.

"Sorry" I apologized as I came fully into the room, "I just really needed to talk to you."  
"Shoot" he said, closing his laptop and placing it down next to him. Uncomfortable standing, I sat down on the foot of the bed.

"About the vision" he guessed. Surprisingly, he was wrong. Some psychic. . . Then again, I'm psychic and I don't know everything. I guess being psychic doesn't make you infinitely smart. To bad, that would've been extremely helpful. . .I wouldn't have to study anymore. . .Then again, I don't study now either. . .

"No, actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else" I said.  
"What is it?" he wondered.

"Well, I'm psychic" I said as an introduction.  
"Seriously, does anybody tell me anything anymore?" he asked rhetorically "You would think they would just assume that the fact that another psycic is in the house would interest me. ." "Well, actually, nobody else knows. Except for Austin" I told him.

"Wow, how the hell did you manage to keep that a secret?" he wondered.  
"Well, I only found out about 20 minutes ago, and I haven't talked to anyone else. So, it was fairly easy" I elaborated.

"You _just_found out you were psychic?" he asked incredulously.  
"Yep. . . Well, I kinda assumed, but I never tested it" I explained.

"And did you test it _now_?" he asked.  
"Yea, with Tarot Cards. Austin put down cards upside down, and I touched one. Then focused on it and saw the exact image on the card in my head" I told him.

"And your satisfied with this test?" he asked.  
"Well, no, not really. I just wish I had something more scientific, you know? My apologies, but I'm not big into this gypsy stuff."

Ironic, since I'm a witch with psychic powers. But hey, I grew up in a family that is (as far as they know) normal. We don't go to Palm Readers, we go to Job Counselors. Instead of using Tarot Cards, we use playing cards. . . Besides, the human side of me is always doubting this supernatural stuff anyway. I feel like I have to prove it to myself.

"No offense taken, I totally get it. You just want to be sure, right? Well, I have a way that most people agree can prove if your psychic" he told me.  
"Really?" I asked, jumping at the chance.

"Really" he confirmed "Just get me those index cards on the desk."  
I got up and brought him the stack of index cards. He took them and then snatched a pen off the nightstand. Using the laptop to lean on, he wrote something on each of the cards. Four he placed, face up on the bed. And the other he kept in his hand. He shuffled them up a few times. "

Okay, here's how it goes. In my hand I have duplicates of the cards in front of you. I want you to pick the card that you think is on top of my deck. Okay?" he explained.  
I nodded, and examined the cards in front of me. A star, a triangle, two squiggly lines, and a square.

I looked over them carefully, and then picked up the card with the squiggly lines and showed it to him. He smiled and showed me the card on the top of the deck, it was the same one.  
We did this 9 more times, and every time was the same thing. The card I picked matched his exactly.

"Well, I think it's safe to say your psychic" Alex said, nonchalantly tossing the index cards on the nightstand. Where they slid around and some fell onto the floor.  
"Couldn't your psychic abilities affect the accuracy of this test" I protested, sounding like a whiney little kid, "I mean, couldn't you subconsciously be picking cards that you know I'm-"

He cut off my babbling with a hand.  
"Becca" he said, sounding sympathetic, "I have nothing to do with this. I'm the kind of physic who only has important life-altering visions that basically make me temporarily comatose. I can't predict the future at will. . . But I see you can. Now, if you don't believe me then you can have someone else in the house test you. . ."

"I believe you" I said immediately. He smirked, happy to have outsmarted me. That smirk was so similar to Austin's that it made me miss him. I mean, he probably only left like two minutes ago. But, I missed him every second I wasn't with him. Which I, of course, didn't tell anybody about. Because they need to think that I'm even more desperately in love with Austin then they already do. I totally am, I'm not denying it, but I don't like people pointing it out. Like Austin was any better. Of course, he was better at maintaining his 'cool factor' when he were in public. Well, If everyone could see how vulnerable and adoring Austin is when were alone, well then they'd see who was really head-over-heels.

Alex laughed, "Thats what I thought. . . So, tell me. Do you ever get visions?"  
"Sometimes" I told him "Mostly dreams that turn out true . . Although, most of my visions haven't come true. Like this one I had of this ballroom, what the hell is up with that? I've had it a few times. And then there's this one about a baby. . . I get it all the time. And the baby changed from the beginning. From being blue-eyed and vampire-pale. . . To having black eyes and mildly tan skin. . ."

"Interesting" he mused "Reoccurring visions are usually important to your life, that make a difference in your life. Visions that you only get once are only barely related to your life. Like, this one vision I had about a month ago of this girl in my dorm walking in front of a bus. . . I only got it once. . . Because it wasn't directly relevant to my life" he explained.

"Oh my God, did you do anything!? You have to had done _something_!" I exclaimed.  
"Of course I did. I found her home number and called her parents and told them she was suicidal. Well, they hauled her ass to therapy. I heard she was in rehab now. . ." he told me.

"Wow. . .Do you do that a lot?" I wondered "You know, help people in your visions."  
"Course" he said "I got the vision for a reason, probably so I could help them. It'd be stupid to sit around and do nothing, not to mention selfish"

"Yea, damn I wish I could do that" I sighed "I don't even recognize anyone in my visions. And they're never of important events or even events that make sense."  
"You get better at interpreting them" he promised "When you first discover that your psychic they don't really make sense. . ."

"Did your first visions make sense?" I wondered.  
"Not at first. . . " he told me.

"And did they all come true?" I asked.  
"Yea, eventually. You see, I figured out I was psychic when I was 15. . . Before Kate and Austin were born. I kept having several visions over and over again. The most frequent one was of this little blonde kid in this small room screaming and holding his wrist. . . I got it everyday from the time I was 13. . . When I was 15, we found out I was psychic, so I knew it was a vision and that I wasn't crazy. Well, I still didn't know who the kid was or what it meant. After Austin and Kate were born I figured out who the kid was. I mean, blonde hair, silver eyes, bone-white skin. . . Not very common. So, then I knew who it was. . . But I didn't know what it was. Well, when Austin was four I found out. You can imagine how horrible I felt when they came home and told me that the Council made Austin burn his wrist. . . I had seen it coming, years in advance and done nothing. I felt awful. And it only got worse. I mean, Austin wouldn't stop crying" he moaned miserably "I swear, he cried the entire day . . . And it made me feel absolutely horrible for letting that happen. . . So basically, the moral of the story is, when you have a vision of something bad happening do everything you can to stop it. Or else the guilt will eat you alive"

I could easily imagine it, the guilt. If I were him, I would've been been consumed with guilt. I mean, how horrible is it to be responsible for your brother getting seriously hurt?  
I mean, me and my brothers fight like rabid wolverines. . .but, I still wouldn't want anything bad to happen to them. And I especially wouldn't want to be responsible.

"Its not your fault" I consoled "Its that son of a bitch, General Odysseus' fault."  
"Amen to that. . . " he agreed "I always hated that guy. He treated my little brother and sister like crap. And now he continues to treat Austin like garbage."

"He is a true bastard" I agreed.  
"So, you've met him?" Alex wondered.

"Well, not personally. You see, Austin and I are Blood Bound. And some times, when he's at a Council meeting, I kinda . . . pop into his head. You know, to make sure they don't hurt him. Because, as you already know, their untrustworthy bastards."

"Wow. . . Psychic, Lost Witch, and Blood Bound. . . You really do have the supernatural thing down" Alex mumbled "But seriously, how come nobody told me this?"  
"Well, you _were _only here for two minutes before you went into a temporary coma" I added.

"Good point. . well, are you going to go into Austin's head now? He'll be at the Council soon, you know" he told me.  
"Well, I was going to . . . but, now, I don't think I will. I mean, they're not really gonna hurt him, right? And if they do I'll just go down there and beat the crap out of them. Besides, Austin really hates it if I go inside his head. . ."

Alex laughed, "I think I would too. . .it must be so weird"  
"Yea, it really is" I admitted "Weird. . .but also kinda comforting. . .you know, in a weird way"

Austin didn't need me babysitting him. . .it would just annoy him. Besides, even if they did hurt him, me watching wouldn't help. Now, me going down there and beating the life out of them with a stick might. . .But, I'll save that for _afterwards. _So, for now, I'm just content with talking to Alex about visions and psychics. . .

* * *

**_****Austin's POV****_**

I'm starting to think it really _is _possible to die of boredom. If so, I'll probably have to be hospitalized due to a boredom overdose.  
Because, currently, I am being exposed to some lethally high amounts of boredom.

It should be plainly obvious that I'm at a Council Meeting. The most boringest place in the entire world . . .  
Maybe it's not so boring if your _on _the Council. Instead of being the highly-annoying teenage prince who nobody takes seriously. . .

I don't even get _why _they make me come to their meetings every week. It's not like they value my opinion or anything. Or even let me _voice _my opinion.  
I just sit there, and stare into space. Wishing the entire time that something interesting would happen . . . like, I don't know, General Oddyseus bursting into flames? Or something. . .

Because it's impossible to keep track with what their talking about. One minute their discussing Azimon economy, and the next their discussing crime rates. Then they start talking about the war, and then about some kind of treaty, and bla bla bla. Nobody cares, or even understands. So, I gave up on listening a _long _time ago.

Now, I just sit and daydream. Usually about Becca. . .or General Oddyseus being hit by a bus. . .or, even better, Becca _pushing _General Oddyseus in front of a bus. Yea, that'd be sick.  
But, today, I couldn't focus on any of those splendid events. . .because my mind kept going back to Becca and the whole Lost Witch thing.

She must be so freaked out over the whole psycic, Lost Witch thing. . .and I can't do anything about it. I just wish I was there instead of here. So I could talk to her and make her feel better. I mean, I _could _use telepathy. But, that tends to make me zone out completly. And if somebody tries to talk to me and I'm in a trance. . .then they'll probably figure out that I'm Blood Bound. . .and, well, I really don't need that right now . . . Or ever.

I _should _probably just tell them and get it over with. Because, they're gonna find out sooner or later. . .  
But you know what? I chose later.

People say that avoiding the problem won't make it go away. . .well, those people are right.  
But, I don't care. . .I'd rather avoid it until it is no longer physically possible.

"Austeralgo? Austeralgo?"

I came back to reality, realizing that somebody was talking to me. What a surprise. . .usually they just ignore me. . .  
Well, except for General Oddyseus. . .but, he only acknowledges my exsistence so that he can torment me further. . .

"What?" I asked, looking around the room. Trying to find the speaker.  
"Were you even listening?" General Oddyesus asked with an annoyingly unsuprised tone.

"Honestly? No, not at all" I told him.  
He rolled his eyes at me. And I bit my tongue to keep from growling at him or saying something antagonistic.

"Well, then allow me to repeat myself" King Zephorous said ". . . Austeralgo, there's somebody here to see you"  
"Who is it?" I asked suspiciously. This could not be good. . .

Instead of answering me, he called into the lobby, "Aldara! Bring them in"  
I watched as the two big what doors swung open, and almost threw the table across the room when I saw who it was.

Because, smiling spitefully at me from the doorway, was none other then Princess Aurora.


	6. Evil Angel

**_"Prince And Princess" _**

_Austin's POV: _

It wasn't just Aurora though, it was the entire Arthasian royal family. The cruel King Stavros and the malicious Queen Altheda. Then of course, the oldest daughter, Princess Fama. The fairest and most reasonable of the entire Arthasian family. But she still had her heart wrapped in ice just like all the others.

And the coldest heart of them all belonged to Princess Aurora. Her ruthless and cold nature was matched only by General Oddyseus. She was like a combination of an ice princess with a warrior goddess. Unreachably cold and uncaring . . . but also ruthless and dangerous. You wouldn't know it at first glance though. All you'd see was the beautiful princess with the long wavy hair the color of gold, and the porcelain skin. With color changing eyes and an amazing body. But, talk to her for a minute and you'll see the dark rotting piece of filth that is her soul.

"Okay, why the hell is _it _here" I demanded, standing up and slamming my hands down on the table.  
"I thought you'd be happy to see me" Aurora purred, widening her eyes with mock-hurt.

"I find _that_ contradiction of terms" I hissed venomously.  
She only smiled at me, looking highly amused. Which, only pissed me off more.

"Austeralgo, the Arthasian royal family has joined our meeting today to discuss a Peace Treaty" King Zephorous said. I could tell he was hinting at me to calm down.  
"Oh come on" I exclaimed "You guys fight for thousands of years and _now _you decide to be peacful? What the fuck is up with that?"

"Austeralgo" Oddyseus snapped at me "Perhaps you should sit down now"  
And perhaps, you should fuck off.

But, saying that will not at all help this situation. Nor would lunging across the room and ripping out Aurora's throat.  
But, their both _so _tempting.

Grinding my teeth, I sat back down in my chair. But, I still wasn't buying this whole 'civilized' thing. No way the Arthasians would be up for signing a Peace Treaty.  
They haven't even had any real contact with the Azimon in over a century! Why would they suddenly want to discuss our differences 'rationally?'

Well, I'm not buying it. . . They have to have something else in mind. Something they can get from this. . .  
I just don't have a clue what is yet. All I know, is that I don't trust them.

The Arthasians sat down in the empty chairs on the other end of the table. As far away from me as the table allowed. Good. If I had to be in the same room as her I'd like to be as far away as possible. Because, the bitch is crazy. . .and evil, let's not forget about that . . .

"So, Austeralgo, it's good to see you again" King Stavros said sociably. That lieing bastard. . .  
"I wish I could say the same" I growled between gritted teeth.

King Zephorous gave me a reproachful look. Well, if they were so concerned about my behavior then they shouldn't of made me come to this meeting.  
They have no one to blame but themselves.

King Stavros laughed tolerantly, "I see you still have hard feelings over our last encounter" he said.  
"You mean when you kidnapped me?" I growled "Yes, I still have hard feelings over that. And, oh yea, when you let your physco daughter drink my blood!"

"Your still not upset about that, are you Austin?" Aurora purred innocently. Why that little bitch. . .  
I stood up from the table again, slamming my hands down. This time with enough force to go through the table. Angrly, I yanked my hands out of the holes in the table immeidatly.

"Yes, _Aurora, _I am still upset about that" I growled "Of course I am! Your a hateful bitch who treats me like garbage! I have every right to be furious!"  
"So, you don't like me?" she asked with mock-hurt and innocent.

"Of course I don't like you! As a matter of fact, I _hate _you" I hissed.  
"Well, that's to bad. . .because were engaged" Aurora cooed, grinning maciously.

. . . . . . .wait for it. . . . . .  
"WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" I demanded, the roar echoeing through the large spacious room.

"Now, Princess Aurora, you know that hasn't been decided yet" King Zephorous said, obviously avodiding my question.  
Aurora shrugged her delicate shoulders, "As far as I'm concerned, it's a done deal" she said lightly.

"What is a done deal" I demanded through my teeth "God damnit Zephorous, tell me what's going on!"  
"A component of our Peace Treaty is a marriage between you and Aurora. . .joining our two nations" he said, sounding confident. But I could tell he was worried about my reaction.

"I am not marrying that thing!" I shouted angrly.  
"Austeralgo!" Oddyseus snapped reproachfully at me.

"Austeralgo," King Zephorous said, using a quiet and calming tone, "I know you have ill feelings against Aurora. . .but, you could at least consider. . ."

"No. No, I can't consider" I hissed without thinking "Because-Because I'm Blood Bound!"  
Oh, how I wish I could take those words back . . .

The room was dead silent. Nobody said a word, instead they all just stared at me. The General's stare was full of disgust and anger. And Aurora's was highly complentative. . .like she was thinking really hard about something. . .King Zephorous' exspression showed that he was extremly surprised. King Stavros' was resigned and decided. Queen Altheda looked completly bored and uninterested. Aldara, the vampire secretary who was standing in the doorway, looked competly shocked. As did most of the Council. . .

"Who" Oddyseus demanded, breaking the silence, "Who are you Blood Bound to!?"  
"Her name is Rebecca Callaway" I told him through gritted teeth. I wanted to lie. . .but, I didn't think it would get me far.

"Rebecca?" Cyebele, the witch representation, asked incrediously "What kind of name is that?"  
"A human one" I hissed.

"Human!" Oddyseus sneered "You know it's impossible for humans and immortals to be Blood Bound"  
"I said the name human, I never said _she _was" I snarled.

"Then why on Earth does she have a human name?" Aurai asked.  
"Because she's half human" I snapped.

"Well, we'll just have to kill her then" King Stavros said, seeming resigned.  
"Over my dead body you will" I snarled.

"Don't take it so personally Austeralgo" King Stavros said "It's just buisness"  
"Touch her and I'll kill you" I whispered dangerously.

"Now, now" King Zephorous said, rationally, "Let's not be hasty. Now, Austeralgo, we won't let any harm come to Rebecca. And, Stavros, we have made no such descions"  
"It's the only way to break the bond" King Stavros said resignatly.

"Yes, but remember, we are here to negotiate. . .nothing is set in stone yet" King Zephorous reminded him.  
"That is correct. . .because no marriage, no treaty" King Stavros said stubbornly.

"I say we just kill her and get it over with" Princess Aurora said heartlessly.  
"Not on your life" I hissed.

"Now, now. . .let's discuss this rationally" Aurora said with a cruel smile.  
"No. . .there's nothing to discuss. Your not going near her. That's final" I snarled, heading for the door, "This conversation is dead"

Just as I was about to yank the door open, a hand snagged my wrist. My neck snapped to my left to see Princess Aurora standing there, a hand around my wrist.  
Angrly, I yanked my wrist away from her with ease.

"Now, Austin, let's be readonable" she said, smirking.  
"Bite. Me." I said slowly and precisely.

"With pleasure" she purred, pushing me back against the closed door. When my back hit the doors they rattled from impact.  
She ran her fingers across my neck, while her other hand snagged my wrist.

"You always had such amazing blood" she cooed "So much better then any human or vampire. . .Yes, I would just _love _to have you as my Blood Donor"  
"I'd rather lick a rotting whale corpse then be your Blood Donor" I snarled in her face.

She stopped carressing my neck, and abrutly grabbed the collar of my shirt. Her grip on my wrist tightened, her sharp nails digging into my skin.  
"I wasn't asking" she growled between clenched teeth.

"And I wasn't kidding" I retorted.  
She grinned, revealing her fully extended fangs. "I think you'll learn to like it" she purred, leaning into my neck.

Tired of playing games, I freed my wrist easily and shoved her away from me. She stumbled back, but caught herself. She glared furiously at me.  
The entire Council was watching, and doing nothing. And the Arthasians seemed fine with it until I pushed Aurora.

In a flash, General Oddyseus was standing next to me. His cruel sadistic face was looking down at me. He stood uncomfortably close to me, only about a foot away.  
Aurora stood to his left, crossing her arms over her chest in satisfaction. Satisfied to see me getting it for pushing her.

"Austeralgo" General Oddyseus snarled "You do _not _treat Princess Aurora like that! Do you have any respect at all? This treaty could improve millions of peoples lives and you won't even consider it! How horribly selfish is that? All the princess wants to do is drink your blood, can't you just swallow your pride and allow that? For the sake of your people?"

The whole 'for your people' guilt trip thing doesn't work on me. I shouldn't even be the prince . . . I shouldn't be responsible for them.  
And, besides, there is no way in hell I'm letting Aurora drink my blood in front of a bunch of other people. It was embarrasing enough with Becca watching. . .

And even if we were alone, I _still _wouldn't go through with it. I hate Aurora and I will not be submissive to her abusive, spoiled-brat attitude.  
And there is nothing they can say, or do, that will make me.

"If your so noble then why can't she drink your blood" I retorted "Oh wait, because your blood is old and nasty"  
The General snarled at me wordlessly.

And then he slapped me hard across the face.

**_***Aurora's POV***_**

The Azimon General, Oddyesus, was snarling furiously at Austin. His back was to me, so I couldn't see his exspression. But it was, most likely, violent.  
Then, the General slapped Austin across sharply across the cheek, causing Austin's neck to snap to the left.

The Council, which had remained docile before, sprung up immediatly. They didn't move immediatly though.  
They were all waiting to see how Austin would react, as was I.

Austin was looking to his left and down at the floor. The same position that the General's slap had forced him into.  
Austin's fists were clenched at his sides, and the profile of his face clearly showed that he was angry.

Slowly, he turned to face the General.  
His usually pretty silver eyes were now a blood red.

Oh my God.


	7. This 'Aint A Scene

**_***Becca's POV*** _**

"Come on! You can go faster then that!"

Kate threw me a dirty look from the drivers seat. But she didn't have much of a window of opportunity for glaring, she had to bring her eyes back to the road quickly.  
Despite the dirty looks, she pressed her foot harder on the gas pedal and we accelerated forward.

We were on our way to Hades, to the Council Building. Because, while I was talking to Alex, he had suggested that I go into Austin's head and check on him. I had agreed and popped into Austin's head for a minute, just a minute. I only wanted to make sure everything was alright. But, once I was in his head, the first thing I saw was Princess Aurora's smirking face. I hadn't waited to see what was going on, I just pulled myself out of his head and told everyone. Then, me and Kate jumped in Austin's car and sped towards Hades.

About two minutes ago I had gone back into Austin's head to check on the situation.  
Well, the first thing I saw was General Odysseus snarling. Then, felt a sharp stab of pain as the General slapped Austin across the face.

I had pulled myself out of that vision pretty quick too.  
And then started screaming at Kate that the General had slapped Austin and that she better speed up.

Now, since we were ignoring all posted traffic signs, we were almost to Hades. About 10 minutes away, since we were planning on going through the car entrance.  
Kate was speeding down a road leading to Mt. Marcy, the mountain that housed the city of Hades.

"I'm going, I'm going" she muttered, punching the gas.  
"Well, go faster. We need to get there ASAP" I told her.

"I know! That's why I'm breaking the speed limit and kicking up dust . . . which is getting all over the car" she mumbled, distracting herself "Austin's gonna be pissed about that. . ."  
"Focus!" I commanded harshly.

"Alright, alright" she muttered, stepping on the gas pedal. The car jolted forward and Kate swerved to cut off a mini-van. The soccer mom inside honked the horn angrily at us.  
Now, thats more like it.

"I'm focused" Kate mumbled to herself absently "I'm not getting distracted. . .I'm centered. . .I just ran a red light. . ."  
I rolled my eyes at her. . . Who cares about traffic laws when Austin is very possibly in danger?

"Faster" I muttered impatiently.  
"Were going over 100 miles per hour!" she exclaimed "This isn't the Indie 500 you know. I can't be going 200 miles per hour"

"You can try" I pointed out. She rolled her eyes, and pressed a little harder on the gas.  
I glanced at the speedometer, 120 miles per hour. . .

Suddenly, Kate veered off the main road and onto a side dirt road.  
The sharp turn caused me to whip to my left. And then fall back to my normal position when we were going straight again.

I rubbed my temple dizzily. Damn that hurt.  
"God" I mumbled "It's like driving with my brother. . . except we haven't hit any mailboxes. . .yet"

"Bite me" Kate muttered, with a slight eye roll.  
I rolled my eyes too, and didn't answer. I really didn't have anything to say.

Mostly because it was hard to think like this. We were on a gravelly dirt road so it was a bumpy ride. I was practically vibrating in my seat with all the rocking.  
Despite the bad terrain we were still going pretty fast.

We were so close to the mountains that I had to crane my neck to see the top.  
We were currently driving parallel to the mountain, I wasn't sure were the car entrance was, so I didn't know if we were getting close or not.

After about five minutes, we reached what I could assume was the vehicle entrance. Although, it looked nothing like an entrance.  
There was a tiny shack, similar to the one at the foot entrance. It was unkept and rundown.

Kate parked parralel to the shack, so that the car was wedged between the mountain and the shack.  
She rolled down her window, and leaned out a little. The lone dust encrusted window creaked open. A woman poked her head out of the window.

She had skin the color of mocha, and thick dark hair falling over her shoulders. She had high cheek-bones and full pouty lips.  
Her exspression was carefully blank, but their was a slight questioning arch to her perfect eyebrows.

"Can I help you with something" she asked cautiously.  
"Yes, you can help me to thrive under the watchful eye of night" Kate recited.

"Name" the woman demanded, being smartly cautious.  
"Hekate Fotini Karodarus" Kate said, pulling a chain out from under her shirt and showing it to the woman.

The woman nodded, seemed satisfied and a little awed. Then, she ducked back inside the shack and shut the grimy window.  
Then there was a lot of creaking and sounds of metal protesting. And then, the ground below us began to descend into the Earth.

Oh my God, this is so fuckin cool! And so fuckin impossible. . .well, then again, everything about my life _should _be impossible . . .  
As should a car sinking into the Earth . . . but it's obviously not. . .

Once the car stopped moving the light from above disappeared abruptly. Apparently the door or whatever had been shut.  
We were alone in complete darkness. . . just like the last time I came to Hades. . .except this time I'm in a car.

And cars have headlights. . .thankfully. So, Kate turned on the headlights and began speeding through the dark tunnels of Earth.  
It was freaky to be driving completely underground. . .but pretty cool.

We only had to drive for a few minutes, though. Because, we quickly broke into the city of Hades. We were in Bellonna to be exact.  
The prestian, Greek-styles Eytopia that I remembered.

Kate didn't pause when we got onto the streets of Bellonna. She just kept speeding, and driving in a manor that was disrespectful to the few other drivers on the road.  
Most people around Hades seemed to walk. . .which made sense, if your immortal and undeniably fast and have amazing endurance walking is ideal.

We flew down the streets, swerving around a corner every so often. Which always sent me flying.  
After driving recklessly for a few minutes, we were finally there. I could see the Council Building up ahead. I knew exactly what it looked like although _I _had never been there.

Kate slammed on the brakes in front of the stairs leading to the building.  
I flew forward into the dashboard. It hurt like fuckin hell.

I got over it quickly though, and hastily undid my seat belt. Then threw open my door and jumped out of the car.  
Kate was already out and pushing past paparazzi to get to the door.

I followed after her, pushing past the paparazzi snapping pictures at random. Hoping to get something useable.  
I was used to these people. . .well, Austin was anyway.

"Hekate! Hey, Hekate, where have you been all this time?"  
"Hey, Hekate! Why have you denied contact with the Council?"  
"Hey, Hekate! Is it true your parents have disowned you?"

Austin was right, these people are fuckin parasites.  
Just being around them makes me ground my teeth.

Kate and I shoved and pushed our way to the front door.  
Once there, Kate pounded on it violently. She screamed to whoever was on the other side, "Hello!? Open up!"

The door opened a crack, but not enough for us to see who was on the other side.  
"I'm sorry. . . but there's a bit of an incident going on right now" a timid voice said, her warning was accented nicely by a loud crash coming from inside, "If you could come back later. . ."

"It's me, Hekate. Now, I demand that you let me in this second" Kate said harshly.  
"Oh, oh my" the voice mumbled, undoing what sounding like some heavy locks.

Then the door opened the reveal the vampire secretary, Aldara I believe. . .  
Nervously, she brushed her short black hair behind her ear.

"Oh, come in Ms. Karodarus" she said quickly.  
Kate and I both strode in, and then Aldara shut the door behind us immediately and locked it.

"I'm so sorry Ms. Karodarous" Aldara apologized "I didn't know it was you-"  
"It's fine" Kate said, seeming uncharacteristically focused, "Were are they? Where is Austeralgo?"

Aldara pointed to a set of big white doors. "He was in there. . .but I should warn you-" she began.  
"We know" Kate said, heading for the doors. I followed behind her quickly. She pushed open the huge white doors to reveal chaos.

Council members were scattered around, ranting and arguing with each other. They were all so more frazzled then I had ever seen them. I immediately took notice of the Arthasians. The Arthasian king, Princess Aurora, and Princess Fama. They were with a blonde woman who I could assume was the Arthasian Queen. They seemed just as frenzied as the Council. Barking demands at each other, servants, and Council members. I noticed Princess Aurora arguing intensely with the vampire representation on the Council, Analisa. The room was just as distressed as it's occupants. A potted plant had been knocked over, cracking the white pot and spilling dirt all over the marble floors. The long white table in the center of the room had holes in it, and several chairs were scattered around the room. But, no matter where I looked, I didn't see Austin anywhere.

As soon as we stepped into the room, everybody went quiet. They all stared at us silently for a moment.  
King Zephuros broke the silence, "Hekate! How lovely to see you, I should-"

Kate held up a hand to halt his babble. "Don't bother with the chit chat" she said harshly "I came here strictly on business. Where is my brother?"  
King Zephuros looked a little uncomfortable as he said "Well, there was a bit of an incident with-"

"We know about that" she interrupted "My friend here is Blood Bound to him. . .we know exactly what happened. Now, tell me where he is"  
"He's upstairs" the king sighed, defeated, "Cooling off. . .I should warn you though-"

"We don't have time for this" Kate hissed "Take us to him"  
Looking distressed, the king motioned for another secretary to help us. She nodded, ducked her head, and headed towards a door on the other side of the room.

Kate and I followed after her, receiving glares from Princess Aurora and the General.  
Kate bared her teeth at the general, and I glared back at Aurora.

We followed the timid secretary out of the room and into a room full of stairs. Grand, white, staircases led up and up as far as I could see.  
Walking quickly and keeping her eyes on the floor, the secretary began to prance up the stairs.

We followed after her, walking up about four flights of stairs. Until we reached the fifth floor, which was just a small landing and a white door.  
The secretary grabbed a key out of her pocket and unlocked the door. She waited until Kate and I were both inside, and then shut the door behind us.

The fifth floor was a long corridor of white doors. It reminded me faintly of a hotel. Long clean hallway, plain white doors. . .  
There wasn't anybody in this hallway, except for two men in suits standing outside a door at the end of the hallway.

The secretary led the way to the end of the hallway, and stopped at the guarded door.  
Once we were closer, I could see that the two gaurds were Lykaios and Domingo.

"Kate?" Domingo asked, seeming confused.  
"We came to get Austin" she explained "Becca saw what happened"

"Ah" he said, understanding, "You should know though-"  
"Not important" I told him "Just let me in"

Domingo looked like he was fighting with himself, but eventually conceded and opened the door for me.  
I smiled smugly at him, and then slipped in. He shut the door behind me.

The room I had walked into was dark, not pitch black. . .but relatively dark. It was cold too, although, it was a refreshing kind of cold. Like hanging out in your basement during the summer to escape the heat. The room wasn't very decorated, white walls, light colored desk, no windows, empty bookshelf, and a plain double bed in the center. Lieing across that white bed was Austin. He was laying backwards, his feet where his head should be and vice versa. He had an arm thrown over his eyes, and the only movement was from the fluttering of his chest.

"Becca, what are you doing here" he asked impatiently. Obviously, he wasn't surprised that I was here, but he wasn't pleased either.  
"How did you know it was me?" I asked, sitting down in the plain desk chair.

"Your scent, and the bond" he said, still sounding impatient.  
"Oh. . .so, what happened down there?" I asked. I had no idea what everyone was trying to 'warn' us about. He seemed fine to me, a little stressed maybe. . .but, overall fine.

"The General slapped me because I wouldn't let Aurora drink my blood" he said dully.  
"And why are you up here and not downstairs killing them?" I demanded.

A thin, dry smirk played on his lips. "They dragged me up here before I got the chance" he said.  
"And why aren't you flipping out and trying to escape?" I asked. I'm aware that encouraging violence is a bad idea when I specifically came here to calm him down, but hell they deserve it.

"Because Cybele put some kind of spell on me that mellows me out" he said "I know I should be angry about that too, but I just can't make myself"  
"Oh. . .well, if your calm then why is everyone so spastic?" I asked.

"I'll show you" he said dryly, lifting his arm off of his eyes and turning his head to look at me.  
Holy fuck! His eyes weren't the sparkling silver they usually were. They were a bright scarlet, and glowing.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, automatically flinching back. I was immediately contrite, assuming that I had hurt his feelings.  
But, he didn't look hurt. He looked expressionless and unsurprised.

"And now you know" he said dully.  
"Why-why-what happened?" I stuttered "Why-why are they red"

He laughed without humor, "That's the funny part. . .we don't know"  
Yea, _real _funny. "Well. . .that's not good" I said slowly.

"No, no it's not" he agreed.  
"So, nobody knows why they turned red?" I clarified.

"Well, if they do they're not telling me. Which, wouldn't really surprise me" he mumbled.  
"Well, are you okay?" I asked.

"Yea, I'm fine. . .I'll probably become randomly homicidal when this spell wears off. . .but other then that, yea" he said.  
"Okay, good. I was worried about you" I told him "I saw what happened with Aurora and General Odysseus"

"Not surprising" he said "Did you see all of it?"  
"No, I just saw Aurora's face and then the General slapping you" I told him.

"Oh, well then there's something I need to tell you" he said, composed, "I'm engaged."  
"What!?" I exploded. Engaged??????

"Yea, I'm supposed to marry Princess Aurora. . .but don't worry. I'm not going to let that happen. I'd be her Blood Donor forever and wouldn't ever be able to see you" he said "That's hell"  
"Okay, kinda impossible for me to _not _worry about this" I mumbled "But I'll try"

"Okay" he said blandly. He was so mellow that it was kind of freaking me out. He was never this calm, especially when discussing Aurora.  
"We should probably take you home" I muttered.

"Okay" he said, getting up. I stuck to his side as we headed for the door.  
When I opened the door, everyone braced themselves.

"Relax" I told them, rolling my eyes, "He's fine"  
Austin stared levelly at them, proving my point. Kate looked away from his devil-eyed gaze.

"C'mon" I said harshly "Let's go." Kate nodded, and we all began down the hallway. The shy secretary was nowhere to be seen, though.  
Domingo and Lykaios came with us, there eyes never straying from Austin. They were just waiting for something to go wrong. . .

We left the fifth floor and descended down the stairs. When we reached the first floor, we walked (unhappily) into the Council room.  
Things weren't quite the same as when we left. It was still disorderly, but everyone was relatively quiet. People were still arguing, but in hushed tones.

The first argument I zoned in on was the one involving Analisa, Odysseus, and King Zephuros. They were all arguing with a small cloaked figure. I couldn't see if I knew this person because they were wearing a floor length deep purple cloak, with the hood up. Their back was to me, so it made it even harder. I knew it was a girl though, because I picked up on her attractive baby-ish voice. It was easy to hear their conversation because they were arguing only about 10 feet from us.

"Your making a big deal out of nothing" the small cloaked figure insisted.  
"What would you know? Your only the messenger" Odysseus sneered. Oh, so he's not just ruthless to us. . .he's hostile to other people too. How pleasant.

"Prima has seen this hundreds of times before" the tiny figure hissed "It's nothing to get worked up about"  
"Oh really" Odysseus challenged, crossing his arms over his chest, "Then fix it"

"I will" the cloaked figure said haughtily, "Like I said, this isn't a big deal"  
"When people's eyes turn red with anger it's usually a big deal" the General said.

"They didn't turn red because he was angry" the little girl said as if this was plainly obvious, "They turned red because he was stressed and overwhelmed"  
"I've been stressed and overwhelmed many times before and _my _eyes never turned red" the General retorted.

"Because your not a vampire" the girl hissed.  
"Well, I'm a vampire" Analisa piped in "And that has never happened to me before"

"Because you have to be stressed, overwhelmed, _and _have witch blood in your system" the cloaked girl explained "And I'm guessing you don't drink a lot of witch blood"  
Analisa looked resigned, "No. . .no, I don't" she mumbled.

"That's what I thought" the girl said "The combination of stress and witch blood often causes the irises to change color. . .A good nights sleep should turn them back to normal"  
The General tried to say something but the girl cut him off with a hand.

"It's been lovely helping you. . .but I do have other business to attend to" she said ""Good day" she said curtly, and walked away from them.  
She approached our little group, and stood directly in front of me.

But I still couldn't see what she looked like because the cloak shrouded her face, or at least to anyone taller then her.  
Which was everyone in the room, even tiny Kate was about an inch taller.

"Vederela alla casa, Persa Strega" she told me, and I could see a smirk playing on her barely visible lips.  
Once she said that, the king rushed over with Analisa and the General hot on his heels.

"What on Earth do you mean by that, young lady" the king demanded "Did Prima tell you something? Did she tell you it was her?"  
The small girl smirked, "Arrivederci" she said, and turned on her heel. She floated out of the room without a backwards glance.

"Austeralgo" the king growled, losing his mad-hatter, happy yet scary manner, "Do you have any idea what she was talking about"  
"I-ugh, ummm no" he stuttered, seeming flustered. Apparently that calm spell is wearing off, at least he isn't homicidal. . . yet.

he king turned to me, "Show me your shoulder" he commanded.  
"Ugh. . . What?" I asked, extremely confused.

"Show me your shoulder" he repeated. Then he grabbed my shirt sleeve and pulled it down to reveal my shoulder.  
"Hey! What the-" I protested immediately.

"She has the mark. . ." the king mumbled , sounding dazed "Its really her. . ."  
"Don't touch her" Austin growled, smacking the kings hand away from my shoulder. Yep, spell definitely wearing off. Because Austin was definitely starting to get angry.

When he pushed my shirt sleeve back into place he glared at the king angrly. He looked like he was going to rip out someone's throat.  
Either the king, the general, or the princess . . . One of theirs.

"We have to go" Domingo said hastily.  
Kate nodded in agreement, "Yes, we have to leave now" she chimed in.

She grabbed Austin's shirt sleeve and began dragging him towards the door. He threw the king a dirty look over his shoulder, but didn't fight Kate.  
I stood there, staring at the king blankly as Domingo followed after Kate and Austin.

What had the king been talking about? What mark? What did it mean?  
What had the girl in the purple cloak said to me? What language had she been speaking, Italian?

A yank on my shirt sleeve shook me out of my thoughts.  
Lykaios had pulled my sleeve to get my attention. "Oh, yea, let's go" I mumbled, following him as we quickly retreated from the room.

The lobby was empty except for Kate, Austin, and Domingo standing by the door.  
Kate still had her hand around Austin's wrist, as if she thought he would charge back into the room and kill someone if she let go of him.

Domingo had his hand on the door handle, like he was ready to open it at any second.  
When we entered the room, Domingo turned the handle to open it.

"No, wait" Lykaios said, stopping him.  
"What is it?" Domingo asked. Lykaios walked over to them, and took off his sunglasses. He placed them over Austin's blood red eyes.

"The press already knows somethings up" he explained "Don't need to tip them off anymore."  
"Good idea" Domingo said, and pushed open the door.

The paparazzi were all lined up outside, cameras ready. I swear, these people practically live in front of this building.  
Domingo and Lykaios stayed in front, pushing past people, carving a path for us. Kate led Austin towards the limo and I followed behind.

When we reached the cars, Kate handed Lykaios the keys to the Maserati. He nodded and went over to it and got in the front seat.  
Domingo, Austin, Kate and I all got into the limo. Apparently the driver had been waiting because once we were in, he started driving.

For the first few minutes in the car everyone was quiet. But I could tell Austin was unhappy.  
He kept fidgeting and fingering the sunglasses in his hands. His red eyes seemed upset and stressed. They no longer seemed scary, just unsettling. They were still Austin's eyes.

After about a half an hour Austin was becoming really agitated. He kept fidgeting like he couldn't get comfortable and tapping his foot anxiously.  
We both jumped when my ring tone went off.

Although neither Kate or Domingo seemed to notice.  
I flipped open my phone to see that I had a text message from Kate, who was sitting on my other side.

Why the hell she is texting me? She's like two inches from me?  
Curiously, I read the text message:

_Austin is so stressed, put a sleep spell on him?_

I looked up at her, and she gave me pleading puppy dog eyes.  
I raised my eyebrows at her, and texted back:

_"Y?"  
"Cuz he's obviously uncomfortable, he's better off asleep"_ she replied.  
_"Oh fine"_I texted back.

It only took me a few seconds to conjure sleep and send it Austin's way. It worked quickly, he was already tired so he wasn't resisting.  
He slowly laid his head to rest on my shoulder and was asleep in seconds.

"Good job" Kate congratulated, keeping her voice low.  
I rolled my eyes, "Hey, Kate, do you know what that girl in the purple cloak said to me?" I asked. "

Oh yea, she said 'see you at home, lost witch"  
"Weird" I mumbled "How'd she know anyway? That I was the Lost Witch"

"I think she works for your grandmother" Kate mused.  
"Most likely" Domingo chimed in "They mentioned her by name several times"

"She looked a little young to be working for her. . ." I mumbled.  
Kate shrugged, "She was just the messenger though. The Prima Strega refuses to have any contact with the Council, so she'll send someone else to do her bidding with them"

"What's her deal with the Council?" I wondered.  
Domingo shrugged, "Nobody knows" he said.

"There's just one thing I don't get about this" I mumbled "Why did that girl tell me she would see me at home?"  
"Perhaps she lives with the Prima Strega" Domingo suggested.

"Yea, maybe she's a live in servant" Kate chimed in.  
"Maybe" I agreed, shrugging, "She just seemed familiar to me, I guess"

The rest of the ride was relatively quiet. Kate was sleeping, stretched across a row of black leather seats.  
And Domingo was mutely staring out the window, stroking Kate's hair absently. He looked kinda tired too, worn out.

I was feeling kind of tired too, it had been a ridiculously long day. I figured I'd just close my eyes for a minute.  
Just a minute. . .only for a. . .

When I opened my eyes we were parked in front of my house. Domingo was lightly shaking my shoulder, telling me to wake up.  
Kate and Austin were both still asleep.

"Oh, uh-what?" I muttered, dazed.  
"Were at your house" he said quietly.

"Oh, thanks" I mumbled, undoing my seat belt. Austin was still leaning his head on my shoulder, so he woke up when I moved.  
Well, sort of woke up. He was only half-awake, sleep spells usually did that.

He was looking at me with tired, devil-red eyes.  
It didn't scare me though. They were Austin's eyes . . . just a different color. Besides, it was _my _blood that did that to him.

"Huh? What's going on?" he mumbled, looking around.  
"Nothing" I whispered "We're at my house. . . go back to sleep"

"Oh, okay" he mumbled, resting his head on the back of the seat. He fell asleep again, in seconds. Sleep spells aren't that easy to shake off.  
"Bye" I whispered to nobody and kissed him on the forehead. Then, I scrambled out of the limo.

I stepped out onto the dark sidewalk in front of my house. I breathed in the clean night air. One of the perks of living in the country.  
"Bye Domingo" I called quietly, waving at him. He smiled and closed the door. The limo drove off towards the Kardigan's house.

I walked up the walkway to my house, I looked behind my shoulder paranoidly. There was nobody around, I could tell. But I was still jumpy.  
I went up to my front door, and opened it. The only time we locked it was when nobody was home, or at night.

I was half-expecting the little girl in the purple cloak to be sitting in my living room. Waiting for me with a smirk on her shrouded face and saying cryptic comments in Italian.  
But, when I walked into the living room, Lydia and Jake were sitting on the couch watching a movie.

"Hey Becca" Lydia chirped, perkily "Where were you all day"  
"Austin's house" Jake muttered dryly "That's were she always is"

I shrugged, "I usually am" I admitted.  
Lydia laughed, "I wonder why that is . . . " she trailed off suggestively. Jake groaned and covered his ears. Lydia and I laughed at him.

Then, I headed into the kitchen, to find my mom sitting at the kitchen table. She was on the phone.  
"Yea, I'll tell her-" when she saw me her tone became much perkier "Oh here she is"

I gave her a questioning look, who was looking for me?  
My mom put her hand over the receiver, "It's your grandmother"

I suppressed a groan, I knew I'd be hearing from her soon enough.  
"She wants to talk to you" she said ultra-quiet, almost mouthing the words.

She took her hand off the receiver and talked into it "Yep, she's right here. . . Okay. . . Yes, I'll be sure to call. . . .Okay. . . Love you too"  
Then she handed me the phone. I faked a smile, and took the phone. Pressing it to my ear, I began to walk upstairs.

"Hi Grandma" I said in the cheery voice I saved for talking to relatives I hadn't seen in a while.  
_"Hello, granddaughter, it's lovely to here your voice again. it's been to long" _a mystical voice said.

"Yea, I know. We haven't visited in a long time" I said casually, walking into my room.  
_"No you haven't. Your parents are very busy people, are they not?" _she asked.

"Yea, their both pretty busy" I agreed, flopping down on my bed.  
_"Yes, yes. And Lydia? She's in college I believe" _she observed.

"Yep, junior year" I confirmed.  
_"Majoring in advertising, no?" _she wondered.

"Yep" I agreed "She's real into it too"  
_"Splendid" _she said _"And your brothers? How are they?" _

"Their good" I told her "Ken got a scholarship to MIT and Jake's going all the way to Idaho to play football at Boise State. . ."  
_"So soon you'll be the only baby bird left in the nest" _she observed.

Actually, until now I hadn't thought of that. Jake and Ken were going to be leaving home in a few months. . .  
Amazingly, this idea made me sad. Like when Lydia moved away to college when I was 13, I had been extremely depressed.

Because she was the easiest in my family to deal with. Because we were both teenage girls, and we could talk about boys and stuff like that. We would fight, sure, but not a lot.  
Now, I fought with Jake and Ken a lot. . . but I still loved them. I was gonna be sad to see them go.

"Yea, I guess I will be. . ." I mumbled.  
_"Yes, so how are you, granddaughter?" _she asked sociably _"What have you been up to?"_

"Not much, really" I told her. Understatement of the century was an understatement. That was an outright lie.  
_"Ahh, well, tell me, how is dance?' _she asked _"Your mother says your getting quite good" _

I laughed lightly, "I like to think so"  
_"Yes, yes. And how are you doing in school?" she wondered, as any relative would ask. _

"Good. . .though not as good as Austin" I said, not realizing my mistake until I'd already said it. Shit, shit. I shouldn't of mentioned Austin.  
_"And who would Austin be?"_ she asked, although she obviously already knew.

"Ugh, he's my boyfriend" I said uncomfortably. Who's comfortable talking about guys with their grandmother? Especially one you hardly know.  
_"Oh, yes. Your mother mentioned him" _she said. Yea, I'm sure _that's _how you know. . .

_"Yea, we've been dating for a couple months" _I mumbled awkwardly.  
_"Yes, yes lovely. . . Now, my dear nipote, I have called to invite you to spend the weekend at my estate with me" _my grandmother said kindly.

"Oh well. . .I'll have to ask my Mom" I said awkwardly.  
_"I already talked to her. . .she thinks it's a wonderful idea" _she told me.

"Oh, well, I guess that'd be cool" I mumbled.  
She chuckled, _"Yes, it will. There's so many things I need to talk to you about, I also have a present for you" _announced happily.

I wonder what that could possible be. . . insert eye roll here.  
"Oh cool" I said "Should I come over tomorrow?" Tomorrow was Friday. . .and some people don't consider that apart of the weekend.

_"Yes, that would be splendid-" _she cut off and then her voice sounded farther away, and louder, _"Vitani! Put that down!"  
_I could hear yelling, and crashing sounds in the distance.

She returned to the phone a moment, her voice back to normal volume and tone. _"Sorry, nipote, I just had some business to attend to. As I was saying, yes tomorrow would be perfect"  
_"Okay, well Grandma, I gotta go. I'm really tired. I had a really rough day" I explained.

She chuckled lightly, _"I'm sure you have. Well, goodnight innamorato" _she said softly _"I'll see you tomorrow"  
_"See you tomorrow" I said, hanging up the phone.

Just like that girl and many immortals I knew, my Grandmother sprinkled her English with Italian. It annoyed me, because I seemed to be the only one who _didn't _speak Italian.  
It sucked to not know what everybody was saying.

Exhausted, I changed into my pajamas and left my room for a brief moment.  
I leaned over the railing, looking into the kitchen. My mom was still at the table.

"Mom!" I called "Your driving me to Grandma's estate tomorrow, right?"  
"Yep, of course, honey" she responded "And I have the perfect dress for you to wear"

Oh lovely. Grandma was really old-fashioned. Well, at least now I know why. She's the First Witch. . .that's like being the first person. And that's ridiculously old.  
It would make sense for her to be really old-fashioned I guess. I would have to wear something nice to see her. If I wore my normal clothes she'd probably have a heart attack.

"Okay, night mom" I called.  
"Night sweetheart" she called back.

Then, I went back into my room and curled up under the blankets.  
It had been a seriously long day, and I was extremly happy to rest.

I was asleep in minutes.


	8. Beautiful Monster

**_"Strega Manor" _**

When I woke up it was still fairly dark out. I had been awoken by my blaring alarm clock, which somebody had programmed to go off at _six in the morrning.  
_Damn my mother. . .the ride to Grandma's house up near Buffalo was a few hours drive. She probably wanted to get back before tonight so she was making me go insanely early.

I groaned, and rolled out of bed, accidentally stepping on Stanley's tail. He growled automatically, awoken from sleep.  
"Sorry!" I whispered to the dog. When he saw it was just me, he pillowed his hands back on his paws.

Groggily, I walked out of my bedroom and into my parents room. I wasn't surprised to see my mother up and ready.  
She had her mahogany curls pulled back into a bun and wore slacks and a green blouse.

"Hi honey" she greeted me cheerily, my dad was nowhere to be seen. Probably fell asleep in front of the tv again.  
"Hey mom. What am I supposed to wear?" I asked.

"I have just the thing" she chirped happily.  
Cautiously, I followed her into her closet. Which, by the way, is so much bigger then mine. Which is completely ridiculous, I'm the teenager here. . .shouldn't I need more room for clothes?

She raked through all the hangers, checking each article of clothing. When she found the peice she was looking for she exclaimed "Aha!" happily.  
She pulled out a long white garment bag.

"It's beautiful!" I said with mock joy.  
She gave me a stern lock, showing she didn't appreciate my humor. "It's_inside_ the bag" she told me.

She stepped out of the closet, and unzipped the garment bag and spread the dress out on her already made bed.  
The dress wasn't long and grand like it's fancy little bag had proclaimed it to be. It was short and made of some light material. It was pure white with sleeveless straps.

It really was pretty, simplicity at it's finest. It reminded me faintly of a roman toga with it's short simple white design. Although, toga it was far from.  
"Mom!" I protested "It's January! I'll freeze to death in that!"

"Wear it with a coat and jeans and take those off when you get there" she suggested.  
Hmmm, makes sense. "Okay" I said, taking the dress into my room.

I changed into the dress and did my makeup with light pinky girly colors. It kinda made me sick to my stomach, but hell, I was going to see my _grandmother.  
_I couldn't show up looking like night of the living dead.

I left my hair down, deciding it looked better that way. Then I pulled on jeans, and threw an old-styled black coat with brass buttons over the dress. It covered the dress completely.  
Then, I grabbed my black duffle bag and packed it speedily. Once that was finished, I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and grab my toothbrush.

Once I was all packed up, I grabbed my new cellphone off the windowsill where it was charging.  
It was early, but I decided to text Austin and tell him I was going to my grandmothers. He might be sleeping, but if so, the ringtone won't wake him up. Only light can.

I texted a speedy message before shoving my phone in the pocket of my jacket:  
_Hey Austin. just 2 let u no, i'm going 2 my grandma's house this weekend. She called, and invited me over. _

Then, I slung my bag over my shoulder and slid my feet into my sneakers.  
I walked quietly as I left my room and headed downstairs. Almost everyone was asleep, and they'd be angry if I woke them up at six o'clock on a day off.

In the kitchen, my mom was waiting for me with her suede jacket on, and car keys dangling from her fingertips.  
"Ready?" she asked.

"Yep" I said "Let's go"  
She nodded, and headed into the dining room. I followed after her as we went through the door leading to the garage.

My mom's prius was parked inside the two car garage. So we wouldn't have to waist time de-frosting the car  
She climbed in the front seat, and I climbed in the passenger seat.

Once she had the car running, I turned up the radio. To loud for my mom apparently, because she immediately turned it back down.  
It was gonna be a long six hour drive.

* * * * *

It was around noon when Austin had finally texted back. We were almost to my grandmothers house, about ten minutes away. I had been in the car with my mother for six hours.  
At least it was almost over. Although, it would've been nice if Austin had texted me to distract me.

Where had he been all morning?  
Did he honestly sleep 'till noon. I guess we'll see:

_Ur gonna b gone all weekend? :(_

_Yea, srry. I'll b back on Monday tho_

_I'm gonna miss u_

_I'm gonna miss u 2. . . R ur eyes any better?_

_Yea, they're still red but not glowing anymore. Xcept now the light like blinds me. That's y I didn't text u earlier. My mom made me put a blindfold over my eyes after I told her the light stung. I can text w/o seeing my phone but I can't read the messages w/ my eyes covered_

_Oh. . . It's okay. Were almost there_

_Were does ur grandma live anyway? U said near Buffalo..._

_Yea, on the outskirts. In this rich neighborhood called Neromagia_

_I bet that's a community of Azimon witches. Because if u break down the word it's Nero Magia, thats Azmonian Italian for Black Magic_

_Hmmm interesting. Idk tho, I haven't been there in years_

_Oh, ok_

"Honey, put your phone away" my mom said "We're here"  
"Okay, okay" I muttered, finishing a text.

_Yea, I g2g. Were here_

_Ok, I'll t2ul_

_kk, love u_

_Love u 2_

I snapped my phone shut and put it in my coat pocket.  
I looked out the window to see that we were parked in front of Strega Manor. A

big, dark stoned, mansion was the main house. The front yard was covered by snow, but the intricate stone path leading to the door was shoveled. The trees had no leaves and the plants in the garden were comatose for the winter. Behind the house, I knew, there were several smaller buildings for different purposes, a pond, a swing set, a patio, and even a horse barn. The whole property was enclosed within a black, highly decorative, tall, fence. With a wrought iron gate halting entrance to most. We climbed out of the car into the chilly, January air. We went to the front gate, which my mom unlocked with her key. I could tell by the zing of electricity that passed from key to lock, that the lock was no ordinary lock, nor was the key. It was probably hexed to keep out intruders. The large gates swung up and we stepped inside. My mom removed her key and took it back in her coat pocket before locking the door. I started walking up the stone path, expecting my mom to follow. But she was trudging through the snow covered yard, heading for the side of the house.

"Mom, where are you going" I whined.  
"Just one second honey" she said, excitedly "I want to see if my name is still carved in the old tree out back."

I rolled my eyes, she could be such a child sometimes.  
"Tell Grandma I'll be in, in a minute" she told me as she disappeared around the bend.

I sighed, and went up to the front door. I used the old-fashioned door-knocked to knock on the door.  
There was a doorbell, but I distinctly remember it being one of those loud echoey kinds.

A minute later, a tall handsome young man with neat brown hair and a suit opened the door.  
"Hello, Ms. Callaway" he greeted me, moving aside to allow me entry. "Your Grandmother should be waiting for you in the parlor"

"Thank you" I said, moving past him into the room.  
I had been in here before put the decor still shocked me.

Everything about the house screamed old money. The color scheme was mostly dark colors, deep browns and dark maroons. The place always smelled like herbs, not at all like old people or dust. When you first walked in, you entered a room designed specifically for people to gawk out as they entered the house. About ten feet from the door was an elegant staircase, one very similar to the one at the Council. Only, this one wasn't snow white, it was deep brown with white railing. The walls were adorned with fancy Persian rugs, and paintings of noble looking men and women. The walls themselves were made of mahogany paneling, but for the most part they were obscured. Fancy wooden tables with red runners running across them were spaced around the length of the walls. On them were little statues and pots, all of which were probably priceless antiques. A few exotic potted plants were scattered around as well.

"Wait" I said, spinning around to face the butler, "Where's the bathroom?"  
I had been here before, but only a few times. I couldn't remember were the bathroom was. . .

He pointed me to a dark wooden door near the stairs. I thanked him, and went inside.  
The bathroom was all white, pristine porcelain. It amazes me that even the bathroom is elegant.

I quickly tuck off my grey jacket, jeans, and sneakers. I shoved them inside my duffel bag, and retrieved my other shoes.  
A pair of white strappy heals, that I was proud to say I had never worn before.

I slipped them on my feet, ran a hand through my messy curls, and slung the bag over my shoulder.  
I walked back into the main room, the cute butler was still standing near the wall.

"Would you like me to bring your bag up to your room?" he asked politely.  
"Ugh, yea sure" I said, handing the bag to him. He slung it over his shoulder and disappeared up the stairwell.

I went to stand in front of the door that I knew led to the parlor. I straightned my dress, and took a deep breath.  
I pushed open the door, and stepped in.

And I got caught in something.

It was sticky and stringy. It was wet too, and sparkled like glitter.  
I got tangled up in it, and I struggled against it, trying to tear myself free. In the background, I could hear faint giggling.

I couldn't see much, the sticky obstruction made sure of that. All I could see was the elaborate designs of the netting I was trapped in.  
I struggled to get myself free, but it was hard work. I screamed once, more in surprise then fear.

And then, the netting just dissolved. Right into thin air, as if it was never there. There was none sticking to me, and none on the floor.  
Shocked, I glanced around the parlor. My eyes stopped immediately at the small figure in front of me.

It was a young girl, around twelve perhaps. She was very tiny, even smaller then the ultra petite Kate. And very nearly as pretty. Her skin was a creamy color. Pale, but not vampire-pale. She had odd shoulder length hair. It was white-blonde, but the tips were dyed black. She had a baby-face, round and rosy. Her cheekbones weren't very defined, and neither was her small chin. She had a small delicate nose and full plump lips. Her forehead was covered by bangs, emo bangs to be exact. The tips of her bangs were black as well. She had slender limbs and probably didn't even reach five feet. Her wide child eyes were a deep purple, and darkly lashed. She wore a black dress that reached almost to her knees. The top was snug, but it spread out into a tutu like skirt around her waist. The entire dress was decorated with silver spiderwebs.

It wasn't a net I had gotten myself stuck in.  
It was a web.

"Nice to see you again" the little girl said, in a very familiar baby voice.  
"It's you. Your the girl from the Council" I gasped.

"Took you long enough" the girl muttered.  
"You told me you would see me at home. . ." I mumbled "You live here. . .you live with my grandmother"

"That I do" she said absently, drifting gracefully around the room.  
"Who _are_ you" I demanded.

She smirked that familiar smirk at me. "You don't remember me?" she mocked "I'm hurt"  
"No, I don't remember you" I said through gritted teeth "I have no idea who you are"

"Well, you must know _what_ I am. . . at least" she said "Or maybe my little trap wasn't obvious enough for you"  
Then, she gracefully prowled over to an archway on the other side of the room. All her movements were graceful and lazy. As if she could take her time and the world would wait.

She lazily placed a hand on the side of the doorway, and slowly dragged it across the empty air to the other side of the door.  
As her hand moved, a white string-like material followed it. It hung in the air across the width of the door. Then, a net seemed to fall from it.

A intricately designed net was suddenly blocking half of the doorway. It looked exactly like a spider's web.  
She stepped back to appraise her work, and then turned to me with a smirk on her face.

"Your the one who made that web that trapped me!" I accused.  
"That I did. It's one of my favorite spells. Pretty, but also a little malicious" she said, stroking the web lovingly. Moments later, it dissolved.

"Malicious things can't be pretty" I contradicted.  
"I beg to differ" she cooed "For all beauty masks evil"

I was about to speak, when a powerful mystical voice interrupted me.  
"Vitani, stop it. Your frightening our guest. Have I taught you no manors?"

Coming through the archway was an an impossible beautiful young woman. She looked a little older then my sister, twenty-five perhaps. She had long mahogany curls, flowing down her back, framing her gorgeous face. The skin had a mild tan, and was completely flawless. Her face was a perfect heart shape. Her high cheekbones were well defined and angular. Her delicate chin was just as defined. Her full lips were apple red, and perfectly plump. Her almond shaped eyes were a deep purple, the same color as the haunting child. The woman was tall, a little taller then me. Her limbs were slender, but strong. She wore a floor-length, black, sleeveless gown. It was elegant, but simple. It hugged her endless curves and exposed some of her full chest. She looked like a young mysterious supermodel.

She was my grandmother.

I had never seen her like this before, young and gorgeous. But I knew it was her. Every time I saw her, she had the same wise purple eyes.  
Except, they were usually set in a lined old face.

"Sorry, mom" Vitani apologized hanging her head in fake remorse. She gazed up at me through her long lashes and smirked.  
"I know darling" my grandmother crooned "Now, why don't you go find your sister?"

"Of course" Vitani said, smirking.  
Throwing one last violet gaze at me over her shoulder, she scampered out of the room.

My grandmother laughed indulgently, "Children" she sighed lovingly.  
Then, she turned her purple-eyed gaze to me.

"And hello, granddaughter. It's lovely to see you. You look wonderful. That dress is marvelous on you"  
"Thank you, you. . .you look great" I told her honestly.

She laughed, "Opposed to the way your used to seeing me, it would be difficult to look worse"  
I laughed a little. "So. .. you know that I know" I said, confusing myself.

"Yes, I'm highly aware that you learned of your witch heritage" she said "And I am most pleased"  
"How did you know?" I asked.

"A vision, deary" she told me.  
"You had a vision of me learning I was a witch?" I asked.

"Yes, indeed. I saw you in a restaurant with some young Azimons. One of which was a dazed blonde buy whom I perceived to be Prince Austeralgo" she explained.  
"Yea, that's him. He's my boyfreind" I told her. It didn't feel as weird saying it to someone who looked young, even if she was my grandma.

"Yes, yes" she mumbled "He goes by Austin, correct?"  
"Yea, it doesn't blend in well with the humans" I explained.

"No it doesn't. But, there's another reason, he doesn't like the name Austeralgo" she mused.  
"I don't know actually. Maybe, it does tick him off when people call him that" I said with a shrug.

"I'm sure it does. Austeralgo is a very uncommon name, even in a land where uncommon names are common. He's named after somebody, very important. An Azimon God, actually."  
"God of the sky" I supplied, Austin had told me what his name meant already.

"No" she said thoughtfully "Austeralgo is the God of war, actually."

Well, that brought me up short. Why would Austin lie to me about something so insignificant? Why would he feel the need to lie to me about the meaning of his name? Well, I guess it was a few months ago. Back when we were just friends, and I had accidentaly discovered he was a vampire. . .

"Oh" I said awkwardly.  
"Yes, I found the name very fitting for the boy" she mumbled.

"You named him?" I asked incredulously.  
"Why, yes" she said, seeming confused "His mother and I were good friends."

"But. . . I thought you hadn't been to the Azimon in years. . . " I said, highly confused.  
"Yes, but the Karodarus' moved back and forth from the mortal and immortal worlds. Just before the twins were born they lived here, in New York. Austeralgo and Hekate were born in the mortal world actually. I was there when they were born. After they were born, I helped name them. Then I told her they were the prophesied twins and that she take them to the Azimon before the Arthasians got wind of it. They did of course. But yes, I came up with the name Austeralgo. I have always take a great deal of interest in names. It took me a decent amount of time to name my own daughter."

"My mom" I guessed.  
"Actually, her name came to me easily. Now, Vitani's took a great deal of contemplation."

"Wait-What?" I stuttered "Vitani's your daughter."  
"Why yes" she said simply.

"But, she's like 12" I protested.  
"Actually, she'll be 14 in the spring. People always assume she's younger though . . . Because of her height."

"She looks nothing like you" I said skeptically.  
"I know" she mused dreamily "She looks more like her father."  
"Oh" I said, wanting to ask who her father was. But not wanting to pry. "She has your eyes" I said quietly.

"Yes" she agreed, and was about to say more.  
But she was cut off by a babyish call.

"Prima, Belinda is here!"

"Oh, a Member of the House of Ignorant Souls is coming" my grandmother said hastily.  
Then, she fanned her face with her hand, and did a little curtsy.

Then, a sparkly mist seemed to shimmer down around her. Then, her beautiful form seemed to melt away. Revealing a body completely different then the one before. Her tanned skin was creased and weathered. She was slightly hunched over, and she was a little shorter. Her curly hair was much shorter and was now a shocking snow white. Her lips were less plump and a little chaped. Her wise purple eyes looked more in place set into her wrinkled face. Her beautiful gown had been exchanged for a sensible green dress. It was floor length, high necked, and long sleeved. Gold chains hung around her neck. Now, this was the grandmother I remembered. But, now I realized that that was all a facade. Coming in from the door was Vitani leading my mother by the hand. Vitani was dwarfed by my mother. She smirked up at me.

"Mom!" my mother squealed in delight, rushing towards my grandmother. They embraced tenderly.  
"Its so wonderful to see you Belinda" my grandmother crooned.

"I've missed you so much!" my mother exclaimed.  
"I've miss you too" my grandmother said, pulling away, "Come along, sit. We have so much catching up to do"

Nodding vigorously, my mother took a seat on the fancy sofa. My grandmother sat next to her.  
My grandmother poured tea from the elegant tea service on the coffee table.

"Vitani?" my grandmother called "Why don't you take Rebecca upstairs and show her her room?"  
Vitani smiled, "Yes, Prima"

I took notice of how she called her Prima with my mother around.  
The reason for that, was obvious.

Motioning for me to follow, Vitani disappeared into the door I had entered.  
Nervously, I followed after her.

The main room was empty, except for Vitani at the foot of the stairs.  
"You coming or what?" she asked impatiently.

"I'm right here" I muttered under my breath, following her up the stairs.  
At the top of the stairs, she began walking down the hallway to the left. I followed behind her.

The hallway was heavily decorated, as was the rest of the house. Rugs, tapestries, plants, statues, paintings. . .  
The color scheme was the same as well. Dark jades, deep browns, rich maroons.

It seemed like the hallway had an endless amount of doors. They were all spaced about two feet away, and were placed on both sides.  
I could only imagine what was behind all of them.

Some of them, I had a fairly good idea of. Because Vitani was lazily pointing out some of them.  
Although, I could tell she purposelly skipped over some.

"Mom's study, potion room, weapon room, meditation center, aviary. . ." she trailed off, gesturing to doors.  
When we were almost to the end of the hallway, she stopped outside a room.

"And this, is your room" she said, knocking once on the door.  
"Uh thanks. . ." I said awkwardly.

"Yea, yea" she said impatiently. As if she didn't believe my sincerity.  
"Yea, well ummm, I'll see you later uh. . .Vitan-Vitin-" I struggled to pronounce her name.

"Vitani" she supplied, rolling her eyes.  
"Yea, that's umm. . .an unusual name" I said uncomfortably.

"Yea, it's the name of a demon" she said with a smirk. I could tell she was trying to scare me, and that bugged me.  
Gaining back some of my usual confrontational nature I said "Demon of what?" I retorted "Spiders"

"Demon of war, actually" she said, not seeming even remotely offended.  
"What was the deal with that little stunt with the web anyway" I snapped.

"I'm assuming you learned about specializing?" she asked lazily "From whatever 2nd class witch has been teaching you magic"  
"Of course I know what specializing is" I snapped "What about it?"

"Well, I specalize in nature. And I'm just as good at controlling nature, as you are with your little visions" she said snottily.  
Until yesterday, I thought I hadn't specialized yet. Turns out I specialized in psychic visions. Just like my grandmother.

"Well, that's great for you brat" I hissed "Now, if you could leave me alone, that would be great"  
She smiled, "Alright. Just remember what I told you, half-breed."

Then, she turned on her heel and danced down the hall. She disappeared down the staircase.  
For a moment, I tried to remember what she had told me. But, then I suddenly remembered. _"All beauty masks evil" _

God, does this kid get her kicks from acting creepy?


	9. Paralyzer

**_"Curiosity Killed The Cat"_**

I opened the door to my room, expecting to find a bland guest room. But, it was nothing like that. The walls were painted black, with hieroglyphics like designs etched in gold along the walls. Intricately designed dream catchers dangled from the ceiling. The window against the wall was a huge stained-glass window. A design of a beautiful women looking up at the stars. The bed in the center had a black bedspread, with assorted gold pillows, edged in lace. Up against one wall, was an expensive looking desk, painted black. Odd looking jars and bottles were scattered along the desk. The bookshelf in the corner was painted gold, and full of leather bound books. A set of black double doors was a few feet away from the bookshelf. Placed upon the bed was my duffle bag.

There was no accurate comparison I could make to this room. The windows were like a church, but the odd desk was like something you'd find in a wizards study, and the bookshelf looked like it belonged to a Greek philosopher. All so different, yet blending together perfectly.

I plopped down on the bed, shoving my bag to the floor. I sprawled out on the bed, thinking. A part of me wanted to curl up and go asleep. But, the other part wanted to go explore. Vitani had pointed out some odd rooms. And, some, she hadn't pointed out at all. Which made me painfully curious.

Curiosity won over, as it usually does. So, I got up from the bed and made my way to the door. Slowly, I opened it a crack, and peaked out. The hall was empty, and I could hear the faint voices of my mother and grandmother drifting up from the parlor. Cautiously, I crept out of my room. I wasn't sure which room to check out first. One of the ones she pointed out, or one of the one's she didn't? I decided to just pick a random door.

I went to the door across from mine and tried the handle. It was locked. Of course, instead of warding me off, this made me even _more _curious. I focused on the telepathy spell Tora had taught me. I hadn't done very well when she taught this to me, but I guess now was a good time to try.

I closed my eyes, and imagined the other side of the door. Focusing on the doorknob. I couldn't _really_tell what kind of lock there was on the other side, so that made it a little more difficult. So, I imagined a generic lock, for starters. I imagined a lock that you turned up to unlock, and sideways to lock it. Currently, it was sideways. So, focusing hard, I tried to move the little lever with my mind. It was really hard, but after some intense concentration I heard a faint clicking sound. Experimentally, I tried the door again. And it opened.

Feeling triumphant, I pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was much bigger then the outside proclaimed it to be. The ceiling was very high, and slightly dome shaped. Bookshelves extended 30 feet up. And they covered almost the entire perimeter. Many of the books were to high for anyone to possibly reach, I wondered how anyone could reach them. A mahogany desk was assituated on the left side. Papers were filed neatly stacked on it, along with a flowerpot of roses. On a peg board behind the desk were maps with flags all over it.

Curiously, I drifted over to the desk. Gingerly, I sat down in the big chair behind it. I flipped through the stacks of paper on the desk, careful not to disturb the order. One stack had a bunch of conversations on record. Although, I didn't know who any of the people were, because it used initals. KZ had a whispered conversation with KS at the Arthasian palace about AA and AK. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Another stack had hundreds of names on it. I scanned it briefly for anybody I knew, but didn't find a single one. So, I quickly placed that pile to the side, and moved on. I found a neat folder with the words "Council Of Azimon" written neatly across the front. Intriguing. . .

I opened the file and the first paper in it was a report sheet about King Zephorous. It had a picture of him in the corner, looking golden and regal. It had a bunch of information about him. His birthdate, his age, blood type, _favorite _blood type, the day of his coronation, his family tree, and a bio. I just glanced at it, really. But, I still saw that he was 3,004 years old! Holy crap!That's like ridiculously old! I also noticed that he was crowned king on May 21, in the year 6 AD.

I didn't really want to learn more about the King, afraid of what I'd find, so I quickly flipped to the next. The next file was Analisa. It showed similar information. Bio, family tree, perfered blood type, her blood type, age, date she joined the Council. She joined the Council a few years after King Zephorous took the throne. She was almost as old as him too, 2,998.

I continued flipping through the files. Ladon, Cybele, Hamied, Lupo, Aurai. . . I noticed that they seemed to be in age order. The oldest first, and descending to the youngest. Which made me curious as to who the last file was of. When I opened the last file I wasn't surprised to see it was Austin's.

Written across the top in bold was "Prince Austeralgo Arctarus Karodarus." A picture of him was in the corner. He was wearing a suit, and not smiling. Although, he still looked amazingly hot. It looked pretty recent, a few months ago at most. His birthday was there (October 31, 1993,) his age (17,) his blood type, (AB Positive,) his favorite blood type (AB Positive,) and a family tree. The family tree showed Hera Karodarus and Vulcan Karodarus to be his parents. Hekate Karodarus to be his twin. And Alexanderan Karodaurs to be his older brother. There was also a record of all the tests they had conducted on him. I couldn't bare to look at those. But, I couldn't stop myself from glancing at the bio.

_"Prince Austeralgo: birth predicted by Prophetess Prima. Born in Hades, New York. Twin brother of Hekate Karodarus. Ability to conjure blue fire. Lived under protection of Azimon Council from 1993-1997. Gave self third degree burn on June 19th, 1997. Purpose: to test imunity to fire. Imunity up to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. Parents outraged, demanded reform. Council refused. Entire family disappeared on June 23rd, 1997. Location, previously, unknown. Reappeared; September 12th, 2006 Spotted in Ate. Rejoined Protection of Council, September 28th, 2006. Refused to give any indication of families' whereabouts. Kidnapped by the Arthasian government, March 17th 2008. Retreived, March 20th, 2008. Brought back to Hades, kept under intense supervision. Disappeared again, that night. Reappeared; October 24th, 2009. Spotted in Ate, and Bellonna. Kidnapped by Arthasians again, within city walls, on October 25th 2009. Along with several young Azimons. Including his sister (Hekate,) his bodygaurd, (Domingo,) and Blood Donor (Rebecca Callaway.) Help prisoner for several days before escaping on their own. Meeting with Council scheduled for November 4th, 2009. Austeralgo received wood poisoning on October 31rst, causing meeting to be cancelled by Vulcan Karodarus on November 1rst. Rescheduled for Novemeber 6th, 2009. Austeralgo met with Council on this day. Several test were conducted. Immunity test conducted again, immunity increased to 4000 degrees Farenheight. Met with Council once a week after that. On Decemeber 26th, 2010, Council announces Peace Treaty to Austeralgo. Austeralgo displeased with treaty with Arthasians. Becomes even more infuriated when told of his possible engagement to the Arthasian princess, Princess Aurora. Princess Aurora attempts to drink Austeralgo's blood, but Austeralgo refuses to submit. Pushes Princess. General Odysseus angry, physically repremends Austeralgo. Becomes even angrier, eyes become red. Due to an intake of Witch Blood, mixed with stress. . . ."_

This was extremly recent, Decemeber 26th was yesterday. And yesterday was desrcibed in more detail then any of the other events.  
What irritated me about this bio was, that all it did was talk about was his involvement with Council, tests he'd taken, days he'd gone missing. . .

There was nothing about the real _him. _His personality. His likes, his dislikes.  
The Council didn't care about that, they didn't care about the real him. All they cared about was his power, and what it could do for them.

I shoved the Council file aside, disgusted. To distract myself, I moved onto another stack of papers. This one seemed to be very military oriented. There was a General's name written atop of each paper, with hundreds of names written underneath it. It listed were they were stationed, recent battles, their division. . .

This particular file confused me, so I pushed it aside. Next, I snatched a folder with the words "Combat Spells" written across the front. Hmmmm. . .interesting.  
I opened up that one to find spell sheets. On top it stated the name of the spell, then the uses of the spell, and finally how to inact the spell.

Hmmm. . .very interesting. I began to read through some of them. But, I quickly became confused. These spells were horribly complex. Not the kind you can learn from a book.  
I sighed, and pushed the folder aside. I began looking for another file to hold my interest.

As I scanned the desk, the potted rose plant caught my eye. I have no idea why, but it somehow caught my attention. The roses were blood red, and the stems were bright green.  
They were adorned with little green thorns. There were about 5 flowers blooming in the pot.

And, then they started to change. They began to droop, and the color drained out of them. The stems turned grey, and the thorns grew more pointed.  
The roses themselves turned black, and some petals wilted away.

Startled, I looked up to the doorway. And sure enough, Vitani was standing in the doorway. Looking as angelic as a, gothic, porcelain doll.  
Surprisingly, there wasn't a smirk on her lips. Which seemed to be her usual expression. I jumped up out of the seat.

"You really shouldn't be in here" she said grimly  
A few more petals fell off the wilting black flower.

I avoided her question, and instead asked another question. "How did you know I was in here?" I demanded "Were you spying on me?"  
She pointed behind her, "You left the door open. Nice work with the lock, by the way" she said plainly.

I didn't know what to say to that. I _had _just been caught red-handed. . . Luckily, I didn't have to say anything.  
Because Vitani kept talking.

"He's here you know" she continued in a monotone "I can tell"  
"Who's here?" I asked, confused.

"The Prince" she said simply "I can see him in your eyes"  
"What the hell are you talking about?" I demanded.

"There's this glint of silver in your eyes. . ." she continued.  
"AUSTIN!" I shouted, and then felt the absence of him in my mind. Although, I hadn't felt his presnce until it was gone.

The corners of Vitani's lips pulled up, "Don't be so hard on him" she mocked "I remember seeing him. He was really cute"  
For whatever reason, that really pissed me off. Her acting like that was Austin's only good quality. He was more then a pretty face. And she was less then her pretty face proclaimed.

"Bitch" I snarled, and impulsively threw fire at her. Her expression became even more amused, her twitch of a smirk grew. Just as the fire was about to collide with her pretty face, the air around her became slightly distorted. When the fire collided with the distorted air it burned itself out immediately. Vitani smirked at me.

"Oh come on, half-breed" she said, smiling, "You can do better then that"  
Furious, I hurtled water at her. Calm as ever, she put up her hands. The water stopped mid-air in front of her. She lifted her hands above her head, and the water followed.

Then, the water evaporated into the air. "I admire your effort" Vitani said "And there's nothing more I would enjoy right now more then fighting you. But, not in here"  
"What, your afraid mommy's gonna be mad if we ruin her stuff?" I hissed.

"No, but if anything in here get's destroyed people will _die_" she snarled ruthlessly.  
"Why?" I demanded "What is this room?"

Suddenly, the room began to become blurry. The only solid thing I could see was Vitani. She didn't look superioirly smug like usual, she looked angry.  
Then, my surroundings began to become clear again. We weren't in the room anymore. We were in the woods. In a big empty clearing of snow. The feild was outlined in trees.

I looked around in amazement. How the hell did we get here? Vitani saw my baffled exspression and smirked in bitter amusement.  
"What? Your 2nd class magic instructor didn't teach you teleportation spells?" she asked with mock-innocence.

"Stop talking about her like that" I snapped "You don't even know her"  
"Well, they say the student reflects the abilities of their teacher. . ." she mocked.

"Why did you bring me here" I demanded, trying to not let her sidetrack me.  
"You wanted to fight" she said "Then let's fight"

Before I could respond, Vitani made a sweeping motion with her hands, and the snow on the ground melted. Revealing dead grass.  
Then, she lifted her hands above her head. As she did that, something grabbed me from behind and picked me up.

I twisted around to see that a grey tree had literally bent over and wrapped it's branches around me. It lifted me above the ground. I looked down at Vitani, she was smirking.  
I struggled against the tree's grasp. I gathered my thoughts, and came up with a logical solution.

I conjured fire and placed my burning palms to the branches holding me. They burned away, and I fell towards the ground. I used wind to lighten my fall.  
I landed agiley on my feet, several yards from Vitani. She was grinning smugly at me.

Snarling viciously, I brought down lightning on Vitani. She took one step to her left, and the lightning struck the ground where she was previously standing.  
"Your gonna have to do better then that" she said smugly.

I screamed in worldless anger. Then, I conjured water, _cold _water. And, before she could put up a shield, I whipped the water at her.  
It splashed all over her face and clothes. To my disappointment, she was just as pretty wet. I was hoping the water would wash away the makeup I had assumed she wore.

She was royally pissed though, so that was amusing. She screeched loudly in outrage. It hurt my ears. Really,_ really _hurt my ears. I covered them to block some of the pain.  
She screamed like that for a minute. I thought she was never gonna stop, but she suddenly did.

Cautiously, I opened my eyes to look at her. She stood a few feet from me. She was drenched, but her expression was scary calm again.  
She moved a hand over her body, only touching the air. As she did, she extracted the water from her clothes and hair.

Soon, she was all dry again. And the cold water hovered in the air above her hand. Staring calmly at me, she hurdled the water at me. I jumped to the left to avoid it.  
Sadly, she was smarter then I expected. And I had jumped straight into a trap. The water had been a diversion.

When my foot hit the ground, vines protruded from the ground. They wrapped around me. Leaving only my head free. Desperately, I struggled to get free.  
Vitani, smirking, danced over to me. Even though she was so much smaller, I was still intimidated.

"They don't call me a War Demon for nothing" she cooed.  
I struggled against the constricting vines, but they only got tighter with my struggles.

Just as I thought she was gonna finish me off, a voice drifted out of the woods.  
"Vitani! Rebecca!" I had been expecting my grandmother to come and break up the fight. But, it wasn't her. It was a slightly fammilar male voice.

My head spun around to see a familiar shape appearing out of the woods. It was Raziel. For a change, in his human form. The only colors one would need to paint him would be black and white. White for his pale skin, and black for his clothes, tattoos, and hair. His short hair was jet black, and his short sleeved shirt and pants were to. His tattoos were black as well. In the center of his forehead was the design of a black bird in flight. Extending down from the birds wings were vine like designs. They twisted under his eyes and connected over the bridge of his nose. Little feathers sprouted from them. The tattoos masked his eyes, which were black. The skin of his face was death pale, and all his features were straight and angular. A leather band was wrapped around his shoulder, strapping a intricately designed black knife to his arm.

"There you are" he said, releived when he stepped into the clearing.  
"Raziel!" I rejoiced.

He ignored me, "Vitani, let her go" he commanded.  
"Oh, fine" she grumbled, and the vines turned a dull green. Then grey, and then they crumbled to the ground, where they disentegrated.

I sighed in relief, and stretched my arms, basking in freedom.  
"Vitani, your mother told you not to fight with Rebecca" Raziel scolded.

"Oh, lighten up Raziel" she said with easy familiarity "We were just playing"  
I did a double take, "Wait-you two know each other?"

"Of course we do" Vitani said, rolling her eyes, "He works for my mother"  
"You what!?" I demanded of Raziel.

Vitani answered for him, "He works as a guard for my mother, and occasionally as a hit man. . ."  
"I-I though you were an Arthasian!" I stammered.

"I am" he said simply "That doesn't mean I can't work for Azimons. . .not all Arthasians hate the Azimon"  
"Then-what-what were you doing in Cold Springs!" I stuttered.

"Your grandmother sent me to look after you" he said.  
"And you never told me!" I shouted "You told me you were a Dark Keeper! You told me you were protecting me because the Shadow Slayers were after me!"

"All of that is true. I was born a Dark Keeper, it's in my blood. And I am protecting you because of the Shadow Slayers. Your grandmother had a vision" he explained.  
"Ugh!" I groaned "I feel like everything you said to me was a lie!"

"Everything he told you was true" Vitani defended him "He just left out some stuff"  
"Oh shut up!" I snapped at her venomously. She looked taken back by the acid in my voice.

"Children, children. Let's all calm down"

I turned to see my grandmother coming out of the woods. She was back to her beautiful young self.  
Her expression was gentle and serene.

"First off, let's go back to the house. It's freezing out here" she said, and snapped her fingers. Suddenly, we were back in the parlor.  
It was a lot quicker, and less fuzzy, then Vitani's teleporting.

As soon as we were back, Vitani and Raziel vanished.  
It was just me and my grandmother. Calmly, she strode over to the sofa and sat down. She patted the cushion next to her, and I slowly walked over and sat down to.

"Now, deary, let's talk"

* * *

**Hey! Plz check out my new story "Young Blood" If u liked this story then i'm sure you'll like Young Blood!  
Don't wrry tho, i'm not ending this story or anything! **

**Plz review :)**


	10. Misery

*****Vitani's POV*****

I leaned over the railing of the staircase, eavesdropping on Rebecca and Mom's conversation.  
I could hear voices, but very faintly. I needed to get closer.

I drifted silently down the staircase, and pressed myself up against the parlor door. I could hear better now, but it still wasn't good enough.  
Smirking to myself, I conjured an invisibility spell.

To test it, I moved soundlessly towards the decorative gold mirror that was across from the parlor.  
I peered into it, and saw nothing. Absolutely no reflection.

Smiling in success, I went around the staircase and through the dinning room to get to the archway that led to the parlor.  
I couldn't use the door, because a door randomly opening would tip them off that I was there.

I made my way into the parlor, as silent as a ghost. Mom and Rebecca were sitting on the sofa, and it looked they hadn't really gotten into their conversation yet.  
Even better. Smiling at my luck, I leaned up against the wall facing them.

"What about?" Rebecca asked cautiously.  
"About your Campagna pubblicitaria di Strega Potere" Mom said, smiling at her.

I should've figured this was what they were gonna talk about. My mom had had me running erands for this party for the past two months.  
And now, it was finally gonna happen.

"My what?" she asked. She obviously didn't have a clue what she was talking about. Maybe if she learned Azimon Italian. .. or even the human version of Italian, she would understand.  
"It's your promotion of witch powers" my mom told her "It's like a coming out party for young witches. Were you'll get your tattoos and meet the other witches in the coven"

"Tattoos?" Rebecca asked, looking worried.  
"Yes, all witches have tattoos. Showing their affinities" my mom explained.

"Then how come none of you have tattoos?" Rebecca asked.  
"There are spells to conceal them. We tend to hide them most of the time. The only time we usually reveal them is during exclusive witch celebrations" my mother elaborated.

"Well. . . when is this Campa- Capag- party" Rebecca asked, struggling with the Italian but finally settling on English.  
"Tonight" my mother said, grinning.

"Tonight?" she asked, dumbfound, "I know I don't know much about this stuff . . . but it sounds like a big event. Doesn't it take a lot of planning?"  
"Yes, months actually. I've been planning it since the day you found out you were a witch" my mother explained.

Assuming that this conversation was going nowhere interesting, I whirled out of the room. Once out of the parlor, I removed the invisibility spell.  
Then I made my way up the stairs and turned down the hall. I stopped at my bedroom door and went inside, shutting the door behind me.

My room was unnescarily big, but I liked it that way. The walls were white, with black roses painted all over. All the furniture was pure white. My desk, my dresser, my closet doors, my bookcase, my nightstand. . . And all the decorations were black. The lace curtains that were pulled aside to reveal the stained glass window of a single black rose, were black. My elegant bedspread was black, with white roses. The assorted pillows were all in different sizes, and designs. Some white with black lace, some black with white lace, some white with black roses, and some white with black roses. Roses were scattered around the room, black and white.

It's obvious that I like black roses. I don't know why, but I always have. Something about a black rose is so intriguing.  
So much more complex and dark then a single red rose, and much more romantic if you ask me.

Some people think black roses are the death flower. I think that's horribly cliche.  
It's the same as saying that red roses symbolize love and happiness.

I strode over to my bed and sat down, waiting. To pass the time, I played with the roses around the room.  
Making them bloom and wilt at different intervals.

Finally, there was a knock on the door. Three quick knocks. It wasn't the two quick knocks, 30 second pause, and then another knock that I'd been hoping for.  
I sighed, feeling disappointed, and got up to answer the door. I unlocked it, and opened it. It was my mother.

"What's up?" I asked impatiently.  
"You have to get ready for the ceremony" she told me.

"I know" I grumbled  
"Good" she said "And don't forget to take off the spell on your marks"

"I know" I said, feeling exasperated.  
"Okay then" she said, and disappeared down the hall.

I slammed the door shut, and locked it.  
Surely, there was no one more miserable then me right now.

* * *

**_***Austin's POV***_**

I am, without a doubt, the most miserable person in the world right now.  
I was thirsty, I was angry, and I was lonely.

I was thirsty, for obvious reasons. I hadn't had fresh blood since Thursday.  
That tended to wear on my nerves.

Especially when my know-it-all older brother has a talk with me about how he thinks Becca is somehow a threat to me. Which is, completely ridiculous. He wouldn't even say why he thought she was a threat. I'm assuming it's because of the Lost Witch thing. So she has the power to turn off the blue fire, so what? She would never use that against me. She's _Becca. _She _loves _me. Why would she try to hurt me? It doesn't even make sense.

Then again, Alex never makes sense.  
You know, for a psychic, he's pretty in the dark.

And, on top of all that, I was lonely. Becca was gone for the weekend. It drove me crazy to be without her.  
Especially when ever I pop into her head, she yells at me to leave.

She wouldn't even have found out if that little witch brat hadn't told her.  
If it wasn't for her, I could be with Becca right now.

Why would she even tell Becca anyway?  
She obviously doesn't like her. She probably did it just to spite me. Does she get her kicks from making me miserable?

Then again, it's not like she has to do much to _make _me miserable.  
I'm already pretty miserable as it is.

I just can't stand being away from Becca any longer.


	11. Let's Get It Started

**_"Campagna pubblicitaria di Strega Potere"_**

I stared into the full length mirror, an expression of shock on my face. Someone left my outfit for the party on my bed. I was shocked to see it in the first place, but on me, I was baffled. It was a bright teal, very eye-catching. It was tight around the torso, and flared into a poofy skirt around my waist. The skirt had sheer, and teal layers. It was strapless, and made my boobs looks absolutely huge. And the dress barely reached half-way to my skirt. I stared at my reflection, feeling oddly beautiful. I had always wished I was tiny, and dainty and girly. But, right now, it felt great to have long legs and curves.

I was still staring at my reflection when someone knocked on the door.  
"Can I come in?" Vitani asked, the words themselves were pretty courteous, but her tone was impatient.

"No, I'm busy" I called as I went to the vanity to do my makeup.  
"Well, to bad. I'm coming in anyway" she said, walking in. I wasn't even surprised that she was able to open a locked door.

She looked more mature then before, I had to give her that. But thats not what had me gaping in shock. She was wearing tiny black shorts and a skimpy black tube-top. Her pale legs were revealed and her flat stomach was too. Her white-blonde (partially dyed black) hair was actually combed. Instead of looking carelessly messy, it was straight-ironed, and her bangs were brushed away from her face. She actually looked her age now, fourteen, maybe even fifteen. Yet, all this wasn't the big surprise. The black tattoos were. In the center of her forehead. It was of a dainty black fairy. It was like a shadow, you couldn't see any features. It had little black wings, and a little poofy dress. Most of the tattoos weren't on her face though. The rest were black wavy vines wrapping around her bare arms, legs, and stomach. Little black thorns poked out of the vines.

"Woah" I said. "Yes, yes, I look like a whore, I know" Vitani said impatiently "Thanks for pointing it out"  
"I wasn't gonna say that!" I told her hastily "I was just surprised by the tattoos and such."

"Yea, we all dress like this during ceremonies to show off our tattoos. Well, the men don't dress like this, but they do go shirtless, which is always nice" she said, smirking.  
I actually laughed, and tried to turn it into a cough. She obviously wasn't fooled and just rolled her violet eyes.

"So, what do you want?" I asked, accidental not sounding antagonist. Damn, the little brat must be growing on me . . . Oh God . . .  
"Everyone's busy getting ready, so mom told me to come and do your hair" Vitani said.

"Oh, well okay" I said, shrugging. I sat down in the vanity chair, and Vitani came and stood behind me.  
Luckily, most of my height was in my legs, so Vitani's head actually cleared mine. She grabbed a gold, bejeweled comb from the vanity, and looked at my hair with a thoughtful expression.

"What color do you want?" she asked me.  
"_What color?"_ I repeated in shock. S

he waved the comb in the air, "Charmed brush" she told me, rolling her eyes.  
"You can change hair color with that?" I asked.

"Yep" Vitani said "It could even change your eyebrows to match."  
"Wow, impressive" I mumbled "But, I rather just keep it the same color."

"Okay, I'll just work with what I have, and hope the muses are with me" Vitani sighed.  
She began to gently brush out my hair with the gold comb. It felt nice actually, really nice.

She used the brush to pull the hair up. I blinked, and my hair was completely different. It was bound with a piece of blue lace on the center of my head. My hair cascaded out of the hair tie, looking like fireworks. It wasn't curly like usual, I was perfectly straight.

"Oh, it looks nice" I told her.  
"I may not be psycic like my jackass father wanted, but I had a feeling you'd like it" Vitani said, smiling.

I fideted uncomfortably, pushing down the small amount of pity that was rising in my throat.  
Vitani sounded so bitter when she spoke of her father.

Noticing my discomfort, Vitani laughed.  
"Sorry to bore you with my father issues" she said sarcastically, laughing.

With that, she headed for the door. "Be down in five minutes" she told me, closing the door behind her. I rolled my eyes, and began to do my makeup. I outlined my eyes in dark eyeliner, and did my mascara. Then I put on some bright red lipstick, and went to find shoes. I slipped into a pair of strappy blue heals, not surprised that they were my size exactly. I glanced once in the mirror and thought of something. The ring Austin bought for me would go great with this outfit. . .

I closed my eyes and thought about the ring. It was in my bookcase at home, hidden behind my copy of _Dracula. _That way my parents wouldn't find it. . .that would give them a stroke, most likely. I concentrated hard on the little tiffany's box. And when I opened my eyes, it was in my hand.

God, I love magic. . .

Smiling to myself, I opened the jewelry box and ogled at my ring. In the center was a huge diamond, flagged on both sides by bright sapphires. Over 20,000 dollars at Tiffany's.  
I seriously have the best boyfreind ever.

While I was descending the stairs people were already coming in. The cute brunette butler was opening the door for people. He looked even hotter now. His neat brown hair wasn't neat anymore, it was all messy. He was wearing black jeans, and no shirt. He was surprisingly buff under the suit. In the center of his forehead was a red tattoo of a crescent moon. Spikey red lines wrapped around his arms, and a large red crescent was on his back. In his hands were a clipboard, and a pen. He was checking off names as people walked in. Shirtless men, women in short elegant dresses, children clinging to their parents, teenage girls in skimpy outfits making eyes at the butler, teenage guys laughing loudly without shirts on. Everyone had different tattoos, and they were some kind of mix between mysterious natives of a lost civilizations, and wealthy socialites.

People were pouring in. Some lingered in the vestibule, and others filed into the ballroom. They have a ballroom! A group of hot teenage guys were hanging out at the foot of the stairs, one of them looked up at me and whistled. I was flattered actually, but kept up my tough appearance and flipped him off. The guys laughed, and I pushed past them into the vestibule. Vitani came through the parlor door.

When she passed the group of guys one of them called "Hey, Vitani! Are you planning an after party this year?"  
"Hell yea I am" she told him. "Sick" he said, high fiving her.

"You bet it will" she said.  
"Yea, when will it start?" the guy asked.

"It'll starts when I starts, Athan" Vitani said rolling her eyes and walking towards the butler.  
"Deacon, is Attis here yet?" she asked him, peering at the clipboard.

He glanced at it, "Nope, he's not here yet" Deacon told her.  
She sighed in relief, "Good. When he gets here let me know, so I can avoid him" Vitani told him.

He nodded, and Vitani nodded too. She looked towards the walk were I was standing.  
"Oh, hey, Becca" she said, coming towards me, "What you doing out here? The party's in the ballroom"

"Oh, I know" I told her "I'm just people watching"  
"Well, there'll be plenty of people to watch inside" she said.

"Yea, I'll go in in a second" I told her dismissively.  
"Well, just to let you know, I'm throwing an after party later for all the people between the ages of 13-25" she said.

I glanced around the room, everyone looked under 25. A few people were a little older, but no older then 35.  
Noticing my observations she said "I mean the people who actually _are _between those ages. Not just people who look it"

"Oh. . . Yea, I'm going now" I told her.  
"Good . . . This is your party and it will seem more like it when the guests recognize you" she told me.

She was acting almost . . . Nice. Maybe I was starting to grow on her too. . .  
Vitani disappeared into the ballroom. I sighed, and followed after her.

The ballroom was beautiful. It was a big spacious room with a high dome ceiling. The walls were black with stars, and so was the dome ceiling. Their was a full moon painted on the ceiling, giving the illusion of a night sky. The floors were dark wood and polished, and made for dancing. There was a large archway that seemed to be leading to a dining area. Inside it was dark and a handsome guy was showing people to their tables. It looked just like a restaurant. There was a group of tables and chairs in one corner, and a buffet not far from it. A band of witches were playing classical music. Well, it wasn't quiet classical, but not quite contemporary. It was hard to describe. There was a bar on one side of the room. Cocktail waitress were serving drinks, and tons of people were talking and dancing. Everyone was obviously a witch, they all had tattoos. My grandmother was in the center of a large group near me. She was wearing a black strapless lacy gown that reached to her knees. Her curly mahogany hair was pulled into an elegant bun. She had beautiful gold tattoos. In the center of her forehead was a gold eye. Thick gold bands wrapped around her arms and legs.

She motioned me over, "Rebecca" she called softly "Come here please." I went over to her group.  
"I'd like you all to meet my granddaughter Rebecca" she told her group.

"Hi" I said pleasantly, shaking a few hands. "  
Prima, when do you plan to do the unveiling" a woman with purple tattoos asked.

"I plan to wait about a half an hour. . . By then everyone else should be here" she said.  
The woman was about to speak but Vitani rushed up to me and hung on to my arm.

"If you see an attractive blonde boy with red lightning tattoos, tell him I moved to Arthsania" she told me urgently. And then rushed off.  
"Oh. . . Kay" I said slowly, drawing out the word.

I stood talking with the adult, big-shot witches. Well, not so much talking as listening. I didn't understand most of the topics they talked about, and didn't recognize most of the names. I did recognize Vitani's name when she came up. Something about a party that Vitani was invited to by someone named Attis. Although, I go lost again quickly. I zoned out a little while they talked about A-list witches and upcoming events. I perked up though when I heard Austin's name.

"I heard about the engagment between Princess Aurora and Prince Austeralgo" a women with silver tattoos and black hair said.  
"Me to!" gushed the purple-tattooed women "Its unbelievable. The Council has officially gone off the deep end. Marrying off a child to benefit themselves. . . Disgusting"

"What do you expect from the Council?" a man with green tattoos said.  
"True. . . It's going to back fire on them anyway" the silver tattooed women said "That Austeralgo has such a temper the Arthasians will send him back."

"Hey!" I protested, surprising them, "Thats my boyfriend!"  
"What?" she asked, shocked.

"He's my boyfriend" I repeated "We've been dating for two months."  
"Oh, well, Im terribly sorry" she apologized sincerely "I didn't mean that."

"Its fine, it's fine" I said, calming down, "I overreacted, I'm sorry."  
Filling the new awkward silence my grandmother said "Well, now seems like a good time for the unveiling"

"Yes, that's an excellent idea" the silver tattooed woman agreed.  
"Come along, Rebecca" my grandmother said, leading me towards the other side of the room. There was an empty section next to the wall.

She clapped her hands once, and the floor below us moved up, like an elevator. I almost fell, not expecting the lift. It moved 'till we were about five feet off the ground, not very high. Everyone in the room had gone quiet and turned to look at us.

"Members of Circle Black Rose" my grandmother called in an assertive magical voice "I'd like to take this time to introduce you to your newest daughter. Rebecca Callaway"  
Everybody applauded, and there was a large amount of enthusiastic shouting.

"Rebecca _is_Persa Strega" she continued "And will be receiving the Collana Affascinata, along with her markings"  
More clapping and cheering.

"First, I shall deliver the markings" she said, moving to stand in front of me.  
"Hold still" she whispered quietly to me.

I closed my eyes tightly, bracing myself. So, I didn't get to see what she was doing. Then, suddenly, despite the fact that my eyes were closed, a blinding light flashed before my eyes. Just for instance, and then it was gone. And I felt a tingly feeling all over. In the center of my forehead, my arms, my legs, and my back. Slowly, I opened my eyes.

Everyone was staring at me, everyone was _oh_ing and _ah_ing.  
My grandmother was smiling at me proudly. She gestured to the air in front of me, and a full length mirror appeared.

I gasped when I saw my reflection. In the center of my forehead was a sapphire eye. Little sapphire Chinese dragons dotted my arms and legs. My eyes looked different too. They had gone from being crystal blue, to being crystal blue with a gold ring. I stared in shock.

"They're beautiful" my grandmother told me.  
"Yes" I agreed in absently "They are"

"Now" my grandmother continued "I have something to give you"  
She closed her empty palm into a fist, and reopened it. A delicate silver locket was in it now. Intricate designs were carved into the front.

My grandmother closed her fist again, and reopened it. The locket was gone, and I could feel something cold against my throat.  
I reached to touch the locket that was dangling around my neck now.

"The Collana Affascinata" my grandmother announced to the group "It poses the power to delude the blue fire, the deadliest weapon on Earth. . .Capable of reaching impossible temperatures and igniting in seconds. However, that's not all the Blue Flame is capable of. No, not at all. He can create devastating storms, blue lightning . . . and our daughter of the Black Rose, has the power to stop it should we ever need to"

Which, I can't think of a reason when we ever would. . .Only if Austin was an Arthasian.  
Which, he is quite obviously not.

"Now-" my grandmother was cut off by a loud, high child-like voice.  
"Becca!" Vitani called. Everyone turned to look at the ballroom door. Vitani was leaning into it.

"Um, there's someone here to see you" she said, glancing behind her.  
"Who on Earth would be here to see me?" I asked. She could hear me all the way across the room because everyone was dead silent.

A smile played on my grandmother's lips, _she_ obviously knew.  
Well, would she care to share with the class?

Smiling, Austin stepped into the ballroom. Everyone gasped, looking genuinly surprised. Austin was wearing plain blue jeans and a black t-shirt. His eyes were back to their normal shade of silver. The sapphire burns on his wrist weren't concealed, and stood in stark contrast to his pale skin.

"Austin!" I rebuked loudly.  
What the hell was he doing here??

He flinched when he saw me. Defiantly from surprise.  
"Becca?" he said it like a question, like he didn't recognize me.

"What are you doing here!?" I demanded.  
"Staring" he said plainly.

Yea, no shit.

"Why are you-how did you get here?" I stuttered, not sure what I wanted to ask.  
"I drove" he said, rolling his eyes.

_"Why?" _I asked.  
"I wanted to come see you. Now, are you quiet finished with the Spanish Inquistion Queen Isabella?" he asked sarcastically.

I was about to say something, when the platform began to descend. I stumbled, but caught myself.  
When we were back at floor level, I had to restrain myself from running towards him.

"And now, we can eat" my grandmother said, obviously refocusing the attention of the crowd.  
The silence broke, and the party was reinstated.

Some people went into the mini-resteraunt to eat, and others got food at the buffet and sat down at the tables in here.  
Other people just continued dancing and talking.

I made my way through the crowd towards Austin. When I finally got there, I hugged him immediatly. I had just seen him yesterday, but I still missed him terribly. He hugged me back, and after a minute puled back. He kept his arms around my waist, but pulled back to get a better look. I kept my hands locked around his neck. He stared at my tattoos in shock.

"So, what do you think?" I asked.  
He didn't answer for a minute. "Those are so fuckin cool" he decided.

I smiled, "You really think so?" I asked.  
"Hell, yea" he agreed "They make you look even _more _sexy"

I laughed, and my smile grew. We began to dance a little to the music.  
"So, when did you decide to come up here?" I asked.

"About an hour after you kicked me out of your head" he told me.  
"Hmmm, that was only four hours ago. . .impressive timeing" I mused.

"It's easy when you disobey all posted traffic laws" he said.  
I gave him a disaproving look, and he laughed.

"Don't worry. I stopped for all pedestrains" he said.  
"Before or after you ran them over?" I asked sarcastically, and we both laughed.

"God I missed you" he told me.  
"I missed you to. . ." I said "Especially during this party. I don't know like anyone, except Vitani. . .and she's a little. . ." I struggled for an adjetive to describe her.

"Bitchy?" he supplied.  
"Pretty much" I agreed.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and looked behind me to see a boy standing there. He looked a little younger then us, maybe fifteen. He was shirtless, and pretty muscular for a fifteen year old. He had an even tan, and blonde hair. He had a cute face, and wide green eyes. He had red tattoos. One of a lightning bolt in the center of his forehead, and jagged lines resembling lightning running along his arms.

"Uh, hi?" I said it like a question.  
"Your Vitani's neice, right?" he asked bluntly.

"Uh yea?" I said.  
"Do you know where she is?" he asked.

"And who are you?" I asked, instead of answering.  
"Attis" he said, "Attis Payne"

Isn't this the guy that Vitani's avoiding? Sounds like him. Blonde, attractive, red tattoos.  
And, she did ask Deacon to tell her when Attis got here. So, she was most likely trying to avoid him.

"I don't know where she is" I told him honestly. Glad that I really _didn't _know.  
"Damn it" he muttered under his breath, and stalked off.

"Who was that?" Austin asked, confused.  
I shrugged, "I don't know. . .I just know that Vitani's avoiding him"

"Ahh" he said, understanding, "Ex-boyfriend"  
"We don't know that" I contradicted.

"No, but we can assume" he said.  
"Yea" I mumbled as I realized I was starving. "Let's get something to eat" I suggested.

"Okay, but I don't think there are a lot of people here willing to pop a vein. . ." he trailed off, glancing around.  
I swatted him, "I meant for those of us who eat _food" _I corrected.

"Oh, well why didn't you just say so?" he asked.  
I rolled my eyes as we made our way to the little restaurant.

The maitre'd took us to our booth. This place looked exactly like a little resteraunt. It was kinda dark, and the color scheme was mostly maroons and dark browns. Witches were sitting around, eating and talking. I spotted Vitani sitting at a big booth with a group of teenagers, laughing loudly and picking at appetizers.

I looked at the menu for something to eat. Austin was studying the cocktail menu.  
"Do you plan on getting drunk this evening" I asked rhetorically.

"Well, it's not gonna be possible unless they have a keg of beer. . ." he mumbled, still studying the menu.  
I rolled my eyes at him, and went back to surverying the menu.

"Hey, Becca!" Vitani called, a few tables down, "Why don't you guys come sit with us?"  
I looked up at her. They were sitting at a humongous booth that could definetly fit a few more people.

"Uh, sure" I said, shrugging. I looked to Austin, and he shrugged too.  
"I guess" he said. We both slid out of our booth and approached their group.

Everyone slid down to make room for us on the edge. As we sat down I catalouged the group. Vitani sat next to a cute brunette guy with shaggy hair and orange tattoos. The tattoo in the center of his forehead was of a flame. He looked around fifteen or so. I recognized him from earlier, he had been talking to Vitani about the after party. On Vitani's other side was a pretty African American girl. She had bright purple tattoos that stood out against her dark skin. She had thick hair and looked around sixteen. The tattoo in the center of her forehead was of a purple star. Next to her was a pettie brunette. She had her hair in a high ponytail, and colorful tattoos. Green vines with different colored flowers covered her bare arms and shoulders. The tattoo in the center of her forehead was of a daisy. She looked around Vitani's age, only she was much more hyper. She seemed to be bouncing in her seat, and was smiling excidetly. In between her and me was a guy with black hair who looked even older then me. Seventeen bordering on eighteen. His tattoos were black to match his hair. In the center of his forehead was a black cobra. A big black snake tattoo ran down each arm. On the other side of the brunnette, orange-tattoed, guy was another guy. This one was another brunette, with blue tattoos that matched his eyes. The one in the center of his forehead was of a spider. And his arms were covered by blue spiderwebs.

"Allow me to introduce everyone" Vitani offered "Okay this is Kalika,"  
She pointed to the African American girl, and she did a little half-wave.

"And this is Athan" she continued, pointing to the boy I had recognized. He nodded a hello.  
"And this is Tansy" she said, pointing to the hyper girl. Who smiled and waved whole-heartidly.

"Kiron" she continued, pointing to snake boy. Who barely nodded.  
"And Xavier" she finished, gesturing to the brunette spider dude.

"Hey" they all mumbled, some more enthusastic then others.  
"And this is Becca, and Austeralgo" Vitani introduced us.

"Austin" Austin corrected her.  
"Right, Austin" she mumbled.

"Do you guys have good burgers?" Athan asked Vitani.  
"Their not that good. . .The steaks good though" Vitani said.

"Burger it is" he decided, closing the menu. Vitani gave him a 'wtf' look.  
"What?" he said innocently "You have horrible taste in food. It's like you were born without taste buds . . ."

She pointed at him, and a small spark came from her finger and hit his shoulder.  
"Ow" he said automatically. Everyone snickered.

"I think I'm gonna have icecream" Tansy announced.  
"Did you consider having an actual meal?" Kalika asked.

"Not even for a second" Tansy told her.  
Kalika rolled her eyes.

"I think I'm gonna get . . . the steak" Kiron decided.  
"You'll regret listening to her. . ." Athan mumbled.

Vitani rolled her eyes, "I'm so having a turkey club" she said.  
"Blech" Xavier said "Turkey's disgusting"

"That's anti-american" Vitani told him "That's like hating baseball. . .or apple pie"  
"I hate apple pie!" he said.

"Oh! Now, I want apple pie instead. . ." Tansy mumbled, looking like she was deep in thought, "But I want icecream to. . ."  
"Then get both" Athan suggested.

"Good idea!" she enthused.  
Xavier rolled his eyes, "Well, I'm definetly not having apple pie. . .I think I'm gonna have lasagnia"

"Oh, the lasagnia's great" Vitani agreed.  
"Okay. . .not having that. . ." Xavier mumbled, and Vitani threw her spoon at him. Everyone laughed.

"I don't know what I should get" Kalika complained.  
"You can't go wrong with a salad" I chimed in.

"True" she agreed "But, I kinda want something with flavor"  
"Aren't you like a sea-food junkie?" Kiron asked.

"Hell yea I am" Kalika agreed.  
"Well, they have lobster" he suggested.

"Oh! Okay, it's offical, I'm getting the lobster" Kalkia decided.  
"Well, I for one, am having a salad" I said.

Austin was looking intently at the drink menu, "I'm not sure what I'm getting. . ." Austin mumbled.  
"You welcome to sink your fangs into Tansy if you want" Vitani offered.

Tansy swatted her, and we all laughed.  
"As appealing as that sounds. . ." Austin mumbled "I think I'm gonna have a White Russian"

"Vamps sure do love alcohol" Xavier observed.  
"Well, it takes like several drinks just to get a mild buzz" Austin explained "So, a vampire alcoholic would have to drink a lot to get their fix"

Just then, the waitor came over. A shirtless, red-headed witch guy.  
"Are you guys ready to order?" he asked, freindly instead of formal.

"Yea, I'm having a turkey club" Vitani told him.  
"Lasagnia" Xavier said.

"I'm gonna have apple pie, and vanilla icecream!" Tansy told him, as if this was the most exciting news ever.  
"Steak, rare" Kiron said.

"I'm gonna have lobster" Kalika told him.  
"I'll have. . .a chicken cesear salad" I said.

"And I'll have a burger, medium rare, and cheese fries" Athan said.  
"And I'll have a White Russian" Austin said.

The waitor nodded, collected our menus and disapeared.

"So, when are we gonna head over to the after party?" Athan asked.  
Vitani shrugged, and looked at the clock on the wall. "I don't know. . .probably, around nine. . .ten? Wait 'till it's late" she said.

"That gives us at least another hour to kill" Xavier noted.  
"Well, it'll take us at least that long to eat" I said.

"If we go at nine" Kalika added.  
Just as the waitor appeared with our food. Damn that was fast. Something tells me magic was involved.

He placed down our food, and Austin's drink.  
"I wanted sprinkles" Tansy complained, looking forlornly at her icecream.

"My apologies" the waitor said, snapping his fingers. Rainbow sprinkles appeared on the icecream.  
Tansy grinned like a little kid, "Thank you" she chirped.

The waitor nodded in recognition, and walked away.  
Everyone dug in.

"Hey, Athan" Kiron said "You were wrong, this steak is amazing"  
"I'll be the judge of that" Athan said, leaning across the table and using his fork to steal a peice of steak.

He put it into his mouth, and then spit it into his napkin.  
"Ugh!" he complained "That's fuckin' nasty. You clearly have no taste buds either"

Kiron rolled his eyes, "Maybe it's you who has no taste buds" Kiron suggested, plopping another peice of steak into his mouth.  
"Dude, I swear that stake is bleeding!" Athan said "God, what is it? Extra, extra rare?"

"Dude you would not do well as a vampire" Austin said, taking a swig of his drink.  
"No, I wouldn't" Athan agreed, eyeing Kiron "I like things to be dead before I eat them. . .and cooked"

"This steak _is _cooked" Kiron contradicted.  
"Barely" Athan muttered, washing away the taste of bloody steak with some soda.

"Your such a baby" Kiron muttered, plopping another peice of steak into his mouth.  
"No, I just have taste" Athan disagreed, taking a bite of his burger.

"Right" Vitani said sarcastically "Like that disgusting chicken you ate at Ajax's enagement party"  
"Speaking of engagments" Kalika said "Aren't you enaged to Princess Aurora?" she asked Austin.

"I actually forgot about that for a second" Austin muttered "Thanks for reminding me"  
"So you are?" Tansy asked obliviously.

"Sadly. . .and against my will" Austin muttered dryly.  
"Are you gonna go through with it?" Xavier asked.

"They'll have to put the ring on my cold, dead unliving finger" Austin said.  
"So, that's a . . .no?" Tansy asked densely.

"Let's just put it this way" Austin explained "I'd rather marry that bloody steak"  
Tansy tilted her head to the side.

"That's a no" Austin supplied bluntly.  
"Ohhhh" she said, understanding. She was fast becoming the ditziest person I've ever met.

"So, what are you gonna do about it?" Athan asked.  
He shrugged, "I don't know yet. I just know that I'm not going through with it"

"Isn't Princess Aurora like insanely hot?" Kiron asked.  
"You know, you really can't notice that about someone when they kidnap you and almost kill you several times" Austin muttered.

"I can" Athan muttered, and Vitani swatted him. Then, as everyone was laughing, Vitani's eyes went round.  
"Oh, fuck" she muttered.

"What is it?" I asked.  
"Douche alert" she announced.

I looked towards the door to see Attis Payne strolling in. He spotted Vitani immediately and headed for our table.  
Attis came over to us, and placed his hands down hard on the table.

"Been lookin' all over for you Vitani" he said "I couldn't find you anywhere"  
"That's because I was avoiding you" she snapped.

"Feisty" he noted "That's what I always liked about you"  
"Conceded" Vitani noted sarcastically "That's what I always hated about you"

"You think it's hot, and you know it" he said.  
"I will not hesitate to set you on fire, Attis" she warned him.

"You wouldn't hurt me" he said, staring into her eyes.  
"Would you like to test that theory" she asked, picking up a fork.

"Your gonna stab me with a fork?" he asked with a smirk.  
"And beat you with a spoon" Athan chimed in, glaring at Attis.

"So now we're using silverware as weaponry?" he asked rhetorically.  
"Yes, now don't make me get a butter knife" she threatened.

"You know, everyone agrees that we make a great couple" Attis said, ignoring her.  
"Yes, and nine out of ten doctors agree that you are clinically stupid" Vitani snapped.

This was the side Vitani had originally shown to me. The bitchy antagonistic side. Now, she seemed a little warmer towards me. She was still snippy and sarcastic and just a tad bitchy, but she wasn't downright hostile to me, anymore. Like she was to Attis.

Attis laughed, "You always were a card, Vittie" he said.  
"And you were always a dick" she said sweetly.

"Now, I know you don't mean that, Vittie" he said.  
"Oh, fuck you" she snarled, taking a sip of soda.

"You know you want to" he said with a smirk.  
"I'd rather make love to a dead seal" she announced.

Well, that'a a lovely visual . . .

"Oh, c'mon Vittie. What I did wasn't that bad" he reasoned.  
"Hey, Attic" Austin said.

"Attis" he corrected venemously.  
"Yea, whatever. Look, can you shut up already?" he asked lazily "I'm trying to enjoy my drink in peace"

"Then go somewhere else" Attis suggested "Like hell?"  
"You first" Austin retorted.

Attis rolled his eyes, "Vamps are such bastards" he muttered.  
"Don't you have a bag of kittens to throw into a lake?" Austin asked.

"Don't you have a defensless human to suck the life out of?" he snapped back.  
Austin didn't say anything, he just smiled slowly, revealing his slightly enlongated fangs. It was a pretty creepy smile.

The hand lifting his drink to his lips began to glow blue.  
"Would you like to repeat that?" he asked sweetily.

Attis was slightly smarter then I thought, and backed off.  
"Whatever" he muttered, taking a step away from the table.

"Vittie, come see me when you get 'rid of Count Pretty Boy" he said.  
"Don't count on it" she hissed.

"See you later, baby" he said, winking.  
Then he disapeared out of the resteraunt.

Vitani sighed in relief, "Thanks Austin" she said.  
"No problem" he said, relaxing into his seat, "That kids a pain in the ass. . .you just wanna. . ."

"Hit him over the head with a frying pan?" Vitani suggested.  
"Kick him in the nuts?" Athan offered.

"I was gonna say beat the crap out of him" Austin said "But, I like your ideas better"  
We all laughed.

We finished our food, discussing violent things we'd like to do to Attis, and then other idle chit chat.  
When everyone was done, we exited into the ballroom. Which was suddenly blindingly bright.

We all hung out together after that. We danced to the soft music, talked laughed, got some drinks.  
And, before I knew it, it was ten.

The party was still in full swing. Kids running around. Teenagers dancing and drinking. Adults talking about boring crap.  
This party was probably half-over, but I had a feeling it was only the beginning for us. My ideas were confirmed by Vitani's words.

"Okay, now who's ready for the _real _party"


	12. Party Like A Rockstar

**_"After Party"_**

"Finally" Athan moaned "It's so effing boring here"  
"Yea, and this music _sucks_" Kiron added.

"Big time" Kalika agreed.  
"It's seriously putting me to sleep" I chimed in.

"Yes, yes, we all know the music is lame" Vitani said impatiently "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go tell the others were going"  
She darted away, and ran up to random groups of teenagers. She talked to them for about two seconds before moving on to the next.

"So, you guys know where this party is?" Austin asked.  
"Nope. . ." Xavier answered "She holds them in a different place every time"

"Yea" Tansy chimed in "And there always insanely awesome. Like the one she threw last year after the Reunion Of The Black Rose"  
"Yea, what is all this black rose buisness anyway?" I asked.

"It's the name of our coven" Athan answered.  
"Yea, it's one of the oldest covens out there" Kalika chimed in.

"Yea, and Prima is the Regina" Kiron added.  
"Regina?" I asked.

"Leader, queen, CEO" Kiron elaborated "Whatever you wanna call it"  
"Ohhh" I said. _More _Italian. . .

Vitani whirled back to us, "Okay, everybody ready?" she asked.  
"Yea, let's go" Tansy said, bouncing with excitement.

"Alrighty then" Vitani said, snapping her fingers. Suddenly, the party around us became to become blurry. Until I could no longer make out the shapes around me. Slowly, my surroundings began to regain focus. But, as it got sharper, I realized I was no longer in the ballroom. Once everything was clear again, I realized I was in the woods.

We were in a big clearing, the one Vitani had brought me to fight with her, I was sure. Only, it looked different. It looked like summer now. The grass was bright green and overgrown. And the trees had all their leaves, and nets of Christmas lights were thrown on the trees. It was warm here, too. Not at all like December. There was a big pile of wood in the middle. Tikki torches were placed around, and there was a DJ. A bartender was stationed behind a teak bar. Several witches seemed to be entertainers. They were juggling balls of light, and baton twirling with flaming batons. Loud music was playing, I recognized the song as _"The Diary Of Jane" _by Breaking Benjamin.

As I looked around, people began popping in. Literally, they would just suddenly appear. Mostly in big groups. Soon, at least 50 kids were here.  
The oldest person looked almost 23.

"Were are we?" I asked nobody in particular.  
"The woods behind my house" Vitani answered.

"But. . .it's so _warm _here. . .it looks like spring" I said.  
"Weather spell" she explained "I have about a mile of woods covered with this spell"

I was about to speak, but people began flooding in and it was getting hard to hear. The music blared, and people were shouting.  
"And now the night can begin" Vitani shouted above the noise.

Shouting randomly, Vitani and her freinds ran off to the center of the party. They began dancing to the loud music.  
Vitani was switching between dancing with Kiron, and dancing with Athan.

Tons of others were dancing to. While others were getting drinks at the bar, and others were swimming in an inground pool that so wasn't there before. . .  
I guess this is what you gotta expect from a witch party.

"Wanna dance?" I asked Austin, I had to shout even though he was right next to me.  
"First let me get another drink" he said, making his way to the bar.

Feeling awkward just standing there, I went over to the huge pool. As I walked, I zapped my dress and exchanged it for a plain black bikini. I pulled my hair out of the ponytail and let it fall past my shoulders. I put my arms above my head and dived in. The water was warm, but not too warm. It was pretty deep, I couldn't reach feel the bottom. It also had underwater lights, and it made the water change color every few seconds. Blue, red, green, purple, orange. . .

A bunch of other witches were swimming too. I noticed Tansy standing on the edge of the pool wearing a pink bikini. She pulled her hair out it's high ponytail, and shook it out. Then she took a few steps back, and got a running start. She jumped off the edge and flipped several times before hitting the water. Purple water sprayed all over the place. People cheered, and shouting. When Tansy's head popped back up, she was grinning.

She swam over to where I was treading water.  
"Isn't this awesome?" she asked excitedly "Night swimming in December?"

"Yea, it totally is" I agreed, as happy screaming approached us.  
Vitani came running, and leaped into the pool. She hadn't bothered to switch into a bathing suit.

After her, Athan came running. He jumped into the pool after her. He hadn't changed into a bathing suit either, he was still wearing his jeans.  
Vitani popped up after hitting the water, and scrambled onto a floating lounge chair.

Athan popped up next to the float, and put his arms on it to keep himself above the water.  
"Can't get me now" she taunted.

"Oh really" he said, climbing onto the float. She squealed, and tumbled off the float into the water.  
They were both laughing hysterically.

A lot of things like that seemed to be going on. People pushing other people in, people shoving each other off floats, a couple making out on a floating loung chair. . .  
God, would it kill them to get a room?

I was about to say that aloud to Tansy, when she pulled herself out of the pool with her arms. She sat on the edge, feat dangling in. A colorful cocktail appeared in her hand.  
She took a sip, "God I love my life. . ." she sighed.

"So do I" Austin said, coming up behind her. Another White Russian was in his hand.  
"What is it with you and White Russians" I asked him.

He shrugged, "They're relatively strong. . .and I'm hoping to at least get a mild buzz"  
I rolled my eyes at him, "So, comin' in?"

"In case you haven't noticed I have no bathing suit" he said.  
I rolled my eyes, and snapped my fingers. His outfit was exchanged for black swimming trunks.

"Hmmm, impressive" he said appreciatively.  
"Hell yea" I agreed.

He chugged the rest of his drink, and threw it aside. He cannon-balled into the pool. Green water sprayed me.  
He popped back up right in front of me.

"I gotta hand it to the little brat, this is a pretty kick ass party" he said.  
"Yea, it really is" I agreed.

We swam for a little while. Doing different jumps, pushing people in, knocking over floating lounge chairs that people were sitting in. . .  
It was a lot of fun, but after an hour, I felt like doing something else.

"Wanna get out?" Austin asked, as if he was reading my mind. Which, he kinda can. . .  
"Yea, sure" I said, swimming towards the latter. I climbed out, and Austin followed.

The air was so warm, that I didn't feel cold. It was awesome.  
I debated what we should do next, when I noticed Vitani lighting the bonfire.

"Oh! Bonfire" I sqeauled "Let's go watch"  
"Okay" Austin said.

I rushed over to the bonfire. People were standing around it, cheering and yelling. As Vitani, dripping wet, was about to light the pile of wood aflame.  
Her hand was on fire, and she was about to press it to the wood. She looked out at the crowd, and stopped.

"Hold up!" she shouted "How awesome would it be if we lit this bonfire with _blue fire?" _  
There were cheers and shouts of agreement.

"Prince Austeralgo, come on down!" she said in an announcer's voice. . . she was either slightly drunk or high on excitement. . .  
Austin shrugged, and made his way to the bonfire. He lifted his hand, and it caught on fire, blue fire of course. He placed his burning hand to the wood, and it lit quickly.

The entire thing was engulfed in flames in seconds. But it didn't burn to the ground like I expected the blue fire to do to it.  
People cheered as the bonfire burned.

Austin pushed his way back towards me, and threw an arm over my shoulders.  
"I'm surprised that thing isn't reduced to ashes already" I said.

He shrugged, "I kept it low key . . . it's not that hot"  
"Smart" I noted.

"Yea, now, could you use your bippity-boppety-boo spells and give me back my normal clothes?" Austin asked "I don't plan on doing anymore swimming"  
"Me either" I said, as I snapped my fingers, and Austin's previous outfit was back in place.

I snapped my fingers again, and my outfit changed. Except, not back into the dress. I switched to a pair of jean shorts and a black tank top.  
The dress was to fancy for this party.

"Okay, so _now _do you wanna dance?" I asked.  
"Hell, why not?" he asked rhetorically.

The song _"Contagious" _by Trapt was playing, one of my favorites. It was a loud, rock, fast song. So, we danced to that.  
We danced to a few more songs, when water sprayed me from behind.

I whipped around to see a kid, looked around fourteen, holding a huge water gun. He smirked at me, before running off.  
Thats when I noticed that a lot of people had water guns and were spraying people with them. You could hear a lot of happy screaming.

The witches were conjuring their own water guns to defend themselves against other people.  
It was an onslaught of water fights. Some kid even had a hose and was spraying people who were already in the pool.

Grinning, I conjured to super soakers for me and Austin.  
"I love magic" he told me.

"Don't we all?" I asked rhetorically. His answer was to spray me with the water gun.  
I squealed and ran away. He chased after me with the water gun. Occasionally, I would run backwards and spray him as he came at me.

A lot of people seemed to be engaging in similar games. Almost everyone seemed to have a water gun in their possession.  
I noticed Athan and Kiron ganging up on Vitani. Vitani screamed, but it was happy, excited, screaming.

Austin chased me towards the trees, and instead of getting cornered like he wanted, I slipped in between the trees into the cover of the woods.  
I ran through the trees, laughing and looking over my shoulder to see if he was coming.

I stopped after a few minutes, and put my hands on my knees and panted.  
"Woah" I gasped "Hey, Austin! Austin!"

There was no answer. I looked around wildly. Where the hell was he?  
"Austin?" I asked, straightening up.

Austin dropped out of the trees above me, landing right in front of me. He had his water gun in hand.  
I screamed in surprise, and jumped back. I tripped over something and fell on my ass.

Austin began to laugh hysterically. The water gun slipped through his fingers as he roared with laughter.  
I began to laugh to, it was just so funny.

"I . . .can't believe I fell for that. . .again" I panted in between laughter.  
"Second time!" he laughed, "Second time in two days"

I kicked out my leg, hitting him in the ankle. Surprised, he lost his footing and fell.  
He caught himself with his hands easily. He was kneeling in the grass in front of me.

"Bitch" he said, shoving my leg. Although, he was smiling.  
"That's what you get" I told him.

"You had to make me fall down just because I scared you?" he asked.  
"No, I did that because you haven't kissed me all day" I said "Not even hello"

"I didn't?" he asked, seeming genuinely surprised.  
"No you did not" I said, crossing my arms and pretending to be miffed.

He grinned devishly, and grabbed my legs and dragged me towards him. He climbed on top of me, and pressed his body against mine, pinning me to the ground. He leaned in, and kissed me passionately on the lips. It didn't take long for the kiss to become deep and warm. I reached up to intertwine my fingers into his hair. His lips parted, and he moaned. I poked my tongue in between his lips and felt the sharp point of his fangs on my tongue. I rolled over, so that we were both on our sides, clinging to each other. His arms were wrapped around my waist, and my hands were in his hair.

We rolled back, so that he was on top of me again. His lips moved to my neck, and I moaned in anticipation. When his fangs touched my skin, I felt like I was gonna explode. I hadn't been able to give blood all day, and that always drove me crazy. I was getting anxious, he was taking to long to sink his fangs in. Finally, his fangs punctured the skin and I felt a split second of pain. And then, the excited, high feeling kicked in.

As the blood drained out of my veins, I moaned in pleasure. The release of the blood was more like releasing tension. All the stress seemed to pour out of me with the blood. Leaving me carefree and weightless. It was like we were the only two people in the world, and everything was perfect. There was no Council, no engagement, no Lost Witch crap, no Shadow Slayers. . .everything was perfect.

I frowned as his fangs came out of my neck. But, the frown didn't stay, because he continued kissing me immediatly after. We kissed like we hadn't seen each other in years, even though it had only been yesterday. It felt like years though, it felt like I hadn't seen him in eons. And the kiss seemed to go on for eons as well. I'm not sure how long it actually went on for. Could've been hours, could've been minutes. . .

When he pulled away, we were both panting. We were lieing on our sides in the grass again. We untangled ourselves, and lay next to one each other in the grass for a few minutes.  
We just stared at each other, stared into each other's eyes.

"Now I have" he said finally.  
"Yes" I said quietly "You definitely have"

"I missed you" he said.  
"I missed you too" I told him.

"I'm sorry I spied on you" he apologized.  
"It's okay. . .I spy on you all the time" I admitted.

"Yea, but I know that you sit in on Council meetings" he contradicted.  
"Well, not all of them. Sometimes I just pop in occasionally to check on you" I said "I don't trust them"

"That's because they can't be trusted" he agreed.  
I was about to agree with that, when screams ripped through the woods.

They weren't the happy screams of teenagers fooling around.  
They were the terrified screams of somebody being murdered.

"What's going on?" I asked, moving into a sitting position.  
Austin followed suit, his expression alert.

"I don't know. . .C'mon, let's go check it out"

* * *

**I am very possibly the Queen of Cliffhangers . . . idk y i use them so much. . . i just do. . . if u hate the cliffies, i apologize 4 annoying u. Anyway, there r some new pics on Jazper1843Hale's profile 4 this story. Theres a new pic of Becca. . .n theres a pic of Vitani, Mrs. Kardigan, Princess Fama, Prima, King Zephorus. . .. . Big thanks 3 BookFanatic1997 4 helping me find the pics n 4 the awesome story ideas. . .So, check out the pics. . . and fyi; If u find any good pics 4 Mr. Kardigan, Alex, and basically any character send me a PM n let me no. Anyway, i'd like 2 say thnxs 2 every1 who kept with this story, and every1 who reviewed. u guys rock :) **


	13. Bleed Like Me

**I recomend listenening to "Bleed Like Me" or "Headstrong" (both by Trapt) while reading. Those r the songs i listened 2 while writing this. . . so, it'll probably add 2 the effect. Enjoy :)**

* * *

**_"Carnage"_**

We both got to our feet, and took off running towards the sound of the screams. Back towards the party.  
Austin was much faster, but I did my best to keep up with him.

We burst into the clearing, and I almost screamed myself. Shadow Slayers. Tons of them, at least a hundred, maybe two hundred. All clad in their blood red outfits and scarves covering their mouths and noses. In their hands they had their tools of the trade. Silver knives, wooden stakes, regular knives . . . not a single gun. They were fighting with the witch children. The witches had magic on their side, and were holding up well. The offensive magic they used was beautiful and terrifying. Flames erupted randomly, boulders flew around, people froze in blocks of ice, trees collapsed, thunder cracked and lightning struck, clouds of purple smog engulfed people, water cracked around like a whip.

Without hesitation, Austin joined the fight. I tried to scream for him, but no sound escaped my lips.  
I couldn't let him get hurt. . .but there was no way I could stop him.

I didn't know what to do. I just stood their for a minute, watching the carnage. I saw little Vitani set a Shadow Slayer on fire while another one tackled her from behind. I watched as Kiron brought a bolt of lightning down on the Shadow Slayer pinning Vitani. I saw tiny, perky Tansy suffocate a Shadow Slayer with purple thick smoke. I watched in horror as a Shadow Slayer pinned Athan to the floor, holding him at knife point. I was shocked, but happy, to see Attis electrocute the Shadow Slayer pinning Athan. The Shadow Slayer convulsed and fell to it's side, freeing Athan. Athan nodded in thanks, and continued fighting. I noticed a Shadow Slayer with a huge knife charging Xavier. Xavier put up his hands and a spidery web flew from his palms and captured the Shadow Slayer, causing him to fall to the floor. He struggled to untangle himself.

I saw a girl, who looked about twelve, hurl a huge boulder at a Shadow Slayer. I also noticed a pretty blonde who looked like a super model, use water as a whip. And a boy stab a Shadow Slayer with a jagged icicle to get them off another witch. Another witch was creating holes in the Earth underneath Shadow Slayers' feat. I noticed one of the entertainers, a girl who had been twirling a flaming baton, surround herself in a barricade of fire. She would lash out with the fire to any Shadow Slayer who came to close. Another witch was creating some kind of force field, and instead of defensive, it was offensive. She would push the sheild around, slamming it into Shadow Slayers.

This style of combat was extremely different from Austin's. As a vampire, Austin had brute strength on his side. And, seeing that a lot of supernatural powers were at work, used that instead of the blue fire. He snapped one Shadow Slayer's neck, and threw another into a tree. One of them came at him with a wooden club, and he used the blue fire to turn it to ashes. Then, he kicked the Shadow Slayer in the stomach and sent them flying.

I saw a black raven swoop down, and transform into Raziel. Even now, his exspression wasn't panicked. He looked focused and determined. In one hand he clutched his knife. He swung it around, efficently slitting Shadow Slayers' throats. One swung a knife at his legs, but he jumped up, and when he landed, stabbed the Shadow Slayer.

My head whipped around when I heard Vitani's voice, she was close to me. It was hard to hear, because of the screaming and all the other sound effects. But, she _was _really close, so I could just barely make out what she was saying. A brunette Shadow Slayer guy had her pinned up against a tree.

"Your a cute little witch" he taunted, his knife at her throat, "Maybe boss'll let me keep you"  
"Fuck you" she snarled. He grinned, and his hand twitched as he was about to use the knife.

Suddenly, Attis tackled the Shadow Slayer to the ground, freeing Vitani. Once the Shadow Slayer was on the ground, Attis got up. Vitani and him looked at each other for a breif moment, blankly surprised expressions on their faces. But, Attis quickly disapeared back into the fight. Vitani shook her head, and got back in the game. Vines protruded from the Earth, binding the Shadow Slayers hands and feat. Tieing him to the ground. He struggled relentlessly, and she stood above him, smirking.

"Your a cute little Shadow Slayer" she mocked "Maybe Mom'll let me keep you"  
I didn't get to see how that story ended though, because someone hit me from behind.

A big Shadow Slayer had been knocked into me. And when I looked at him with intense hatred, he turned his focus to me. He lunged at me with his knife. It had been months since I battled with a Shadow Slayer, and I had nearly been killed that time. But, now, I was much more skilled. I might've lost easily to Vitani, but that's because I was trained in fighting humans, vampires, and werewolves. Tora had thought it best to teach me how to defend myself against people who used weapons and brute strength. So, I wasn't prepared to battle somebody using magic against me. But, I was prepared to take on a human with a knife.

As he came closer to me, I struck out with a bolt of lightning. It touched the tip of his knife, and surged through his body. He shuddered and fell to the ground. Another Shadow Slayer came at me then, a tall red-headed girl. I caused the dirt at her feat to crumble away, and she fell into the makeshift hole. Somebody jumped me from behind then, and I tried to shake them off. I elbowed them in the stomach, hard. And they fell off. I spun around to see the blonde girl, flat on her ass. She got to her feet quickly though, before I could react. She came at me again, this time swinging a knife. I jumped back every time she swung at me, avoiding the blade. Eventually, I kicked the knife out of her hand. The knife skidded across the dirt. Grinning to myself, I brought water down from the sky on her. In such huge amounts that she fell to the ground, coughing and choking. I left her there, figuring somebody else could finish her off if they wanted.

The fighting continued. Screams, and shouts filled the air. Along with the sounds of intense violence. Crashing sounds, shattering sounds, cracks of thunder, explosions. . .And seeing was difficult to. Everything was a jumbled mess of chaos. Red blurs colliding with different colored blurs. Sharp bolts of lightning touching down and lighting up the scene. Blood splurting around, bodies being tossed aside. Thick clouds of smoke and smog drifted in the air. They didn't smell good, either. The smog smelled like garbage and rotten fish. And the smoke just smelled like smoke. And if you accidentaly inhaled some of it, it burned your throat and would send you into an unstoppable coughing fit.

I could only imagine the injuries some people might receive. Mine weren't that bad so far, at least not fatal. I had cuts from blades on my arms, and a particularly deep one on my shoulder. A long gash ran along my calf, and another one ran around my thigh. I had a few cuts and scraps on my face, but I had been pretty careful to keep my head and neck out of reach. I had been hit in the head with something though, it was bleeding, a little but not a lot.

The tall Shadow Slayer man I was grappling with, knocked me to the ground. I fell on to the blood soaked grass, and glared up at him. He was smirking, but not for long. Grunting with effort, I shoved fire at him. When it touched him, he recoiled and stumbled back. Where he was quickly grabbed by another witch. I stayed on the bloody grass for a minute. I watched the fight around me, scanning for certain people. Vitani, her freinds, Raziel,_ Austin. _

I saw Raziel first. He was fighting with three Shadow Slayers, and kicking ass. He had a knife in each hand and was swinging them expertly.  
Then I spotted Vitani, and panicked.

Several Shadow Slayers were fighting with her. One grabbed her from behind, and another stalked forward. She struggled against them relentlessly, but to no avail. The one with the blade approached her. They placed the knife at her neck. I wanted to run to her, but there was no way I could make it there in time. Just as they were about to slit her throat, Athan came to the rescue. He knocked the one with the knife down to the ground.

Athan pinned him to the ground, but the Shadow Slayer recovered quickly. In an effort to free himself, he jabbed the knife into Athan's shoulder.  
Athan didn't scream, but Vitani did. The Shadow Slayer kicked the stunned Athan off of him and got to his feat.

Athan ripped the knife out of his shoulder, where it left a bloody wound. Blood trickled down his bare arm and chest.  
He struggled to his feat, and came at the Shadow Slayer again, who was making another move towards Vitani.

He rammed into the Shadow Slayer, but the Shadow Slayer was prepared this time. He delivered a blow to Athan's head with a club, hard.  
Athan cried out, and fell to the ground. Where he lay motionless.

Vitani screamed, and I mean _really _screamed. It was even louder then earlier when I had dosed her with cold water. This scream was even angrier then that one. But also full of greif and terror. The scream still rang out with horrendous rage.

The guy holding her caught on fire, and let go. He stumbled back, trying to stop his clothes from burning him. Then Vitani electrocuted the second guy who attacked her.  
She looked around desperately for the third one, the one who had gotten to Athan. But he was gone. She screamed again, and this time, all it had was anger.

That's when I spotted Austin. He was fighting several Shadow Slayers. Throwing them around like rag dolls.  
One of them came at him with a wooden stake, and I instictually jumped to my feet. I bolted towards him, even though he had already handled the guy with the stake.

As I was running, I slammed into someone.  
I fell backwards onto the ground, and my head cracked against the ground.

And everything went black.


	14. Gone Forever

**_"Aftermath"_**

The first thing I was aware of was an intense pain in the back of my head. And a stinging pain running up my leg. There was also sharp points of pain scattered around my body.  
I also felt horribly drained, like I'd sucked out all my energy with a hose.

I slowly opened my eyes, to see red paint coating the grass. Wait, no. Not paint, _blood. _  
Then everything came rushing back to me.

The Shadow Slayers. The fighting. The smoke. The smog. The fire. The lightning. The knives. The _blood._  
Vitani. Athan. Tansy. Kalika. Kiron. Xavier. _Austin. _Oh my God, Austin.

I pushed myself up onto my hands and knees. Noticing that it was daylight. Then I rocked back so I was in a sitting position.  
I chocked on a scream when I looked around.

The clearing where the once awesome party had been hold, was now littered with bodies. Witches, Shadow Slayers. I couldn't tell who was dead, and who was just hurt. I noticed some that were definitely breathing, but some I couldn't tell. Most of the Shadow Slayers seemed dead. However, there were definitely more Shadow Slayers last night. . . Some of them had definitely gotten away.

Most of the witches were on the ground. Although, some of them were up. They were stumbling around, looking around panickly, sobbing, trying to wake people up. One girl, covered in blood, was standing off to the side, screaming. Just looking around, and screaming. A non-stop, horror-movie, scream. Another girl was crawling towards the line of trees, where she collapsed and started crying. It was horrible to watch. Everyone looked horribly injured, and the one's who were awake looked traumatized.

I looked around wildly, searching for people I knew. The first one I found was Vitani. She was a few feet from me, and looked as if she had recently gotten up as well. Her short hair was soaked with blood, and her clothes were more red then black. Scratches and cuts decorated her skin along with the tattoos. Two parallel slashes ran down her left cheek. She was surveying the carnage with an angry expression. Which, immediately, turned to pain when her eyes stopped on a body across the field.

She jumped to her feet and ran over there. And I mean really _ran. _She jumped over the bodies, and swerved through the people who were up. Vitani stopped when she was a few feet from the body, and just fell to her knees. I couldn't hear her crying, because she was on the other side of the clearing. But, I could see her small frame shaking with sobs.

Instictually, I got up, and ran towards her. My run was more of a jog actually. I couldn't manage a real run at this moment, especially with the pain in my ankle. But, I went as fast as I could. I stopped dead when I reached Vitani. A few feet from us was Athan. He was lying on his back in the bloody grass, his arms limp at his side. His eyes were closed, and his head was tilted towards us. There was a gaping wound on his shoulder, and the skin around it was coated with blood. Actually, most of his skin was coated with blood. His arms were practically all red, and spots of red were scattered around his skin. He had an ugly bruise on his forehead, and blood trickling down from gashes on his forehead and jaw. I couldn't tell if he was breathing or not.

Vitani was shaking violently, and crying broken sobs. Her eyes were on the bloody grass, refusing to look at the body of her friend.  
I knelt down next to her, adverting my eyes from looking at Athan.

"He's dead" she sobbed without looking up, "He's dead . . . because of _me_!"  
I rubbed her shoulder, trying to console her.

"He's gone" she cried brokenly "He's _gone"  
_"It's alright, Vitani" I soothed hollowly.

Her head whiped up to look at me. Her tears had mixed with the blood, and made it look like she was crying blood.  
The emotion in her violet eyes was somewhere between crushing sadness, and blinding hate.

_"How!?" _she snarled "How can it be okay? How can it _ever _be okay!?"  
"It will be" I promised "It will be"

"How!?" she demanded "How Becca, how!? He's _dead! _And none of my spells, or useless magic can _ever _bring him back!"  
"It's not your fault. Nobody can bring back the dead" I consoled.

"No. But it's my fault that he's dead in the first place!" she cried "He _died _protecting me."  
"It's not your fault" I promised.

"Yes it is. All of _this" _she sobbed, gesturing to the carnage around her, "All of this is my fault. I'm the one who threw this stupid party, _I'm_ the one who brought everyone out here. _I'm _the one who took them away from the adult witches, the ones who could've of handled this. _I'm _the one who arrogantly took on three Shadow Slayers, just to find out I couldn't handle it. And just when I was about to get what I deserved for causing this, Athan jumps in and saves me. And dies! _So, you tell me again that this isn't my fault_"

I wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault.  
But I knew it wouldn't do any good.

"_See" _she cried "You agree. You know all of this is my fault."  
"It's not your fault" I said again, not caring if it was futile, "You didn't kill him"

"I might as well have" she sobbed.  
"Vitani" I said quietly "Blaming yourself is not going to bring him back"

It was obviously the wrong thing to say. And I didn't realize it 'till after I said it.  
I wished I could take the words back.

Her lower lip trembled, and she chocked on a sob. She let out a broken cry, and lowered her head again to stare at the grass. Bloody tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped off her chin. Her body shook with sobs, and she cried, and cried.

I robbed her back, trying to comfort her. Even though I knew it was useless.  
"Don't worry Vitani. Everything's going to be okay" I lied.

She looked up at me again, her face covered in bloody tears.  
"He was my best friend" she whispered.

At that, my eyes began to sting like they wanted to tear. And then a few tears did escape my eyes.  
I wiped them away absently with the back of my hand.

"I loved him" she whimpered quietly, so quiet it was almost as if she was saying it to herself.  
More tears escaped my eyes as she crawled closer to his body.

She stopped a few inches from him, still not looking directly at him. She stared at his bloody hand lieing limply on the grass. She reached out, as if to place her hand on top of his, but her hand stopped dead in the air and fell to the grass. She inched her hand forward so that her fingers were barely touching his.

"I love you" she whispered.  
Torrents of tears began pouring down my cheeks.

She placed her hand on top of his, and then her entire body froze. Like she'd been hit with some kind of stun gun.  
With a new urgency, she placed her fingers to his wrist.

Her head whipped around to look at me. There was a faint hope in the back of her sad eyes, and her mouth was open in a little 'O' of surprise. Her expression was completely confused, and lost. Her head whipped back around to look at him again. She placed her fingers to his throat.

"No. . ." she whispered "He-can't. . ."  
Urgently, she placed her hand over his heart.

"Oh my God" she whispered "Oh my God"  
Louder this time, with more joy, and less surprise; "Oh my God, _Oh my God!"_

Her head whipped around to look at me. Her expression was filled with such a fierce joy that I was shocked.  
"Becca! He's alive! Oh my God" she sobbed, a happy sobbing though.

"No way" I whispered, scrambling over to them.  
I pressed my fingers to his throat, and felt the faint pulsing of blood in his veins. Continuing my evaluation, I placed my hand on his chest, and felt a very faint rising and falling.

"Oh my God" I mumbled, intensely shocked, but intensely happy.  
Vitani looked up at the sky, and whispered "Thank you"

Then, she buried her face in his chest and cried even more. More of a happy crying though.  
Crying from intense relief.

It felt like a miracle to me, and it must've felt like a miracle to Vitani as well. We had both assumed he was dead based on his horrible appearance. But, we hadn't gotten close enough to him. We hadn't checked if he was dead. We just assumed.

I was so happy that Athan was alright. He'd been really nice, and he definitely made a nice match for Vitani. And I always was a sucker for a good happy ending.  
And that's when it hit me. Where was my happy ending?

"Where's Austin" I whispered in horror, half to myself, half to Vitani.  
Only, Vitani was still sobbing.

I got to my feet, and looked around the clearing. I didn't see Austin anywhere. Which might've been a good thing, it meant he wasn't lieing around here dead.  
But, if he wasn't here, where was he?

Maybe he went to go get help. Others are missing too. . .maybe they all went to get help.  
But, for whatever reason, I didn't believe that.

I decided to use the bond to find him. The bond did have some perks. One of them being that I would know if he was dead, I would _feel _it. So, wherever he is, he's alive.  
I reached out to his mind, and saw nothing. Blackness. But, I _felt _something. I felt pain in the back of my mind, and not _my _pain. This pain wasn't in the right places.

It was Austin's pain. He was somewhere. Unconsciousness and hurt.  
And until he wakes up, I can't find him.

I heard rustling in the trees nearby. I assumed all of the other consciences witches heard it too. But none of them did anything. The screaming girl near the trees kept screaming, the sobbing Vitani kept sobbing, and the crying witches, kept crying. They obviously heard it, but none of them seemed to care. Perhaps they were in their own little worlds from the trauma, or perhaps it just didn't matter at this point.

Well, it still mattered to me. If the Shadow Slayers were back, then I would fight them. I was almost _glad _they were back. A chance to get another crack at the bastards who caused this.  
I spun around to face the direction the rustling had come from. I stared into the woods, waiting for the Shadow Slayers.

But, it wasn't the Shadow Slayers who emerged from the bushes. It was the adult witches, the senor members of the Black Rose Coven. There were even more of them then the kids. In front was my grandmother, and Raziel. Raziel was covered in cuts, and blood. A couple of other young witches were with them, covered in blood and cuts as well. So, obviously, these were the ones who went for help.

People began screaming each other's names. Kids cried for their parents, and parents cried for their kids. People were hugging, and people were looking for their kids, and people were crying. Several witches flushed out to tend to the children on the ground.

My grandmother approached me, and hugged me so hard it hurt.  
"Oh thank God your alright Rebecca" she said "Where's Vitani?"

I pointed numbly to where Vitani was clutching to Athan. I noticed that a woman and a man were kneeling next to Athan now too.  
The woman was crying, and the man was carefully picking up Athan.

"Vitani!" Grandma Strega cried, and rushed over to them.  
Feeling lost, I continued my scanning of the battlefield. Austin might not be here, but there were other people I was worried about.

I spotted Tansy, drooped like a wilting flower in Kiron's arms as he passed her off to a man, whom I assumed was her father. Both Tansy and Kiron both looked pretty banged up.  
I spotted Kalika next, she was consoling Vitani as the man carrying Athan conversed with my grandmother. I noticed Raziel, helping Xavier up. Xavier blinked at the sunlight and looked around, seeming dazed. A man and woman, whom I assumed where Xavier's parents, pushed Raziel out of the way to get to their son. Raziel backed off quickly, and looked around for someone to help. I must've of looked pretty pathetic, because he came over to me.

"You okay?" he asked.  
I shook my head, biting my lip, "I don't know where Austin is. . .he's unconsciousness and hurt somewhere. . ."

"I'm sure he's alright" Raziel promised, putting a comforting arm around my shoulders, "He's probably in the woods somewhere"  
I nodded, although, I wasn't sure if I believed that.

Tears filled my eyes, as the weight of everything came crashing down on me.  
I couldn't take it anymore.

And for the second time that day, I blacked out.

******

When I opened my eyes, I saw a blinding white light. For a split second, I thought I was dead. Then my eyes adjusted and I realized I was in a white room similar to a hospital room.  
I was laying in a hospital bed, and I was alone.

I kicked off the blankets and swung my feet over the side. I got to my feat, and my head spun. But, everything refocused quickly. My head still throbbed, but I wasn't as drained.  
I looked down at myself, I was still wearing my bloody shorts and tank top.

Confused, I went to the door, and stepped into a bland white hallway. People were rushing around, witches actually. With unconcealed marks. Some of them were crying, and others were rushing around busily. It reminded me of a hospital, actually.

I stopped a witch in clean white clothes with sheets in her hands. She looked kind of worn out, but seemed friendly enough.  
"Excuse me" I said "Do you know where Vitani is?" I didn't feel the need to include her last name, How many Vitani's could there possibly be?

"Oh yes" she said, pointing to a room a few doors down, "She's in Athan Wolfe's room"  
"Okay, thanks" I said, and forced a smile. I doubt it was very convincing.

I made my way to the room she pointed to. I debated mentally over whether to knock or not, I decided not to.  
I opened the door, and the room inside looked similar to the one I was in before.

Everything was sterile and white. A small plasma was on the wall, and a desk in the corner. Lieing in the white bed was Athan. None of his tattoos were apparent, for whatever reason they must've used a concealing spell on them. He looked better then earlier. He was no longer drenches in blood, and his wounds weren't exposed. He had white bandages rapped around his head, and his shoulder. His left arm was in a cast, and his other arm was covered in bandages. His eyes were closed, and his breathing was more apparent then earlier.

Vitani sat in the chair pulled up next to the bed. She was cleaned up as well. Her face and hair were no longer soaked with blood. She had white bandages wrapped around one hand, band-aids scattered around her arms. The two slash marks on her cheeks were no longer bleeding, but they weren't bandaged. She had changed her clothes too, and was now wearing a black dress. It was almost knee-length, and sleeveless. It looked silky, but was generally very simple. Her blonde/black hair was styled in it's carelessly messy style, and her tattoos were still showing. She seemed in a _much _better mood then before. She just looked a little sad now, probably because Athan was hurt.

"Hey" I said quietly, softly closing the door behind me.  
She looked up, "Oh hey" she said.

"How's he doing?" I asked, looking over his injuries.  
She shrugged, "Okay. His injuries are severe, but he's stable. They say he probably won't wake up for at least a day, though"

"I'm sorry" I apologized, really not sure for what though. Just that he was hurt, I guess.  
She wiped her eyes absently, as if she thought she was crying. She laughed, sort of shakily, "It's alright" she mumbled "As long as he's okay"

"How's everyone else?" I asked, fearing the answer.  
"Nobody's dead" she said, and I sighed in relief, "For some people it's touch and go, though"

"That's awful" I said, slumping against the wall.  
"I know. . ." she mumbled.

"As anybody seen Austin?" I asked nervously. I already knew the answer, she would've told me if they found him.  
"No, sorry" she said "They just sent out people to look for him in the woods, I'm sure they'll find him"

"Sure" I mumbled, although I really didn't agree.  
Vitani nodded absently.

"So, where are we?" I asked, filling the awkward silence.  
"Infirmary. . .third floor" she answered.

"You guys have an infirmary?" I asked, surprised.  
She rolled her eyes, acting more like herself, "We have a meditation room, a weapon room, a personal restaurant, and a ballroom. . .are you really that surprised we have an infirmary?

I laughed, "I guess not"  
She didn't answer. Her eyes drifted back to Athan, and a sort of awkward silence came between us. Or, at least it felt awkward to me. Vitani might've even forgotten I was there.

"Do you know what they wanted?" Vitani asked abrutly, after a moment of silence.  
"I thought they wanted me. . ." I admitted "I've run into them before, they specifically tried to kill me. . .they said they're boss wanted me dead. . .but. . .I don't know. . ."

She didn't answer, instead she stared vacantly out the window overlooking the backyard.  
I wasn't sure if she was processing what I was saying, or just zoning out.

"But. . . maybe they didn't recognize me. . .you know, because of the tattoos" I continued.  
"Yea" she mumbled "It would make sense. Because, last night, after a bunch of people were down, they just. . .left"

"Maybe they figured I wasn't there" I suggested.  
Vitani nodded in agreement, and was about to speak, but was cut off.

"Or they just got what they wanted"

We both turned to see Attis standing in the doorway. He had bandages wrapped around his head, and around his arm. He was covered in cuts and bruises. He had changed into clean clothes though, and he wasn't covered in blood. Since he had a t-shirt on, you could still see all of his tattoos. For a minute I mistook the red tattoos for blood.

Instead of going immediately hostile like I expected Vitani to do, she looked thoughtful.  
"What do you mean?" she asked.

His gaze moved to Athan, "Let's talk somewhere private" he suggested.  
"He's asleep" Vitani snapped.

"I'd still feel better about this if we did this somewhere private" Attis said.  
Vitani glared at Attis, "Fine" she snarled "At least if we leave you won't give him nightmares"

"Ha. Ha" he said sarcastically.  
Vitani rolled her eyes at him, and then got up from her chair. She leaned over to kiss Athan's forehead.

"Aw" Attis mocked "I hadn't heard that you two were together. Isn't that precious, best freinds falling in love, how story book"  
"If you enjoy living your gonna shut up" Vitani snapped at him.

He smirked, and we both shoved past him on our way out the door. He just laughed, and followed us.  
He actually had the decency to shut the door behind him quietly.

Attis led us to a door across the hall. Inside it was empty. I assumed it was his room, considering he knew it would be empty.  
We all stepped inside, and I closed the door behind us. Attis leaned against the wall, and Vitani sat down on the bed. I leaned up against the door.

"What do you mean they got what they wanted?" Vitani asked again.  
"I mean that they got the Prince" Attis supplied plainly.

"What!?!?!" I thundered.  
"Shhhh!" Vitani hissed "People are sleeping!"

I clamped my lips shut firmly.  
"What??" I repeated, quieter but still outraged.

"They kidnapped the Prince" Attis said calmly.  
"Who" I hissed, my voice low and dangerous.

"The Shadow Slayers. . ." he said with an eye roll. I leaped across the room and slammed into him. I pinned his arms at his side.  
"Where. Is. He" I growled in his face.

"I don't know" he admitted "But, if I had to guess? I'd say the Arthasian palace"  
"How do you know all this?" Vitani asked from across the room, suspicioun clear in her voice.

"I heard them talking" he explained "I passed out in the woods, and when I woke up a bunch of Shadow Slayers were talking. I pretended to be asleep still. They said something about how the others had the Prince and they were supposed to bring him back to the Arthasian capitol. And then something about how they couldn't find the Lost Witch. . .which proves just _how _stupid they are."

"Why are you telling us this" Vitani asked suspiciously.  
"Because, even I, have morals. And most people with morals have a problem with random abductions" Attis explained.

"Theres just one part of this that doesn't make sense. . ." Vitani mumbled, deep in thought.  
"What?" Attis asked.

"Since when do you have morals?" she asked.  
He rolled his eyes, "You should consider being grateful for this information" he said.

"I am grateful" she said "Now shut up, I have to go tell my mother"  
Vitani paused at the door. "Oh, and Becca?" she said "Don't kill him, yet. He's useful to us for now." Then she dashed out the door, closing it behind her.

I turned back to Attis, and he was smirking at me.  
I glared at him, baring my teeth angrily.

"Play nice" he instructed smugly.  
"Shut up" I snapped "I won't hesitate to end you"

"You heard Vitani" he said "Your not allowed to kill me"  
"I believe the key words there were _yet _and _for now" _I snarled.

"Oh don't get testy just because your boyfriend was kidnapped" he said, rolling his eyes.  
"I'm not testy. . .I'm fuckin pissed" I growled.

He was about to respond, but the door opened. Several people stepped in. Vitani, Prima, and a few men and women who I assumed where Prima's advisors.  
They shut the door behind him.

"So, Attis Payne, you believe that you know where Prince Austeralgo is" my grandmother said formally, getting right to the point.  
"I don't _believe _I know where he is. . .I know" Attis said.

"And how exactly do you know" she asked.  
"I heard the Shadow Slayers say it" he explained "I got knocked out while fighting with some Shadow Slayers in the woods, passed out, and woke up to find them talking. Talking about takin' Prince Austeralgo to the Arthasian Capitol"

"Are you sure" she asked.  
"Positive" he confirmed.

She turned to me, done with him. "Now Becca, Raziel says that you have reason to believe that Austeralgo is unconsciousness and hurt?" she checked.  
I nodded, "Yes, I went into his mind. . .and it was dark and I could just barely feel pain in the background" I explained.

"I see. . .have you checked on him since waking up?" she asked.  
"Well, no" I told her.

"Well, why don't you try now?" she asked.  
"Okay" I said, drawing out the word.

I closed my eyes, and reached out to Austin's mind.  
He was awake.

* * *

_It was cold, and it was dark. Even to Austin. He could just barely make out the iron bars in front of him. He was sitting on the cold ground, and everything hurt. His head hurt especially, it felt like something was beating against his skull from the inside. His side hurt to, extremely. The rest of him just ached, and throbbed. He knew he was covered in bruises and cuts. He could even smell blood, and knew that it was his. Experimentally, he reached up to touch his hair and, sure enough, it was soaked with blood. _

_He had woken up a few minutes ago, and found himself passed out on the cold floor. In some kind of cage. He was surrounded by metal bars. And the cage wasn't very big. Big enough for someone to lay down in, or even pace comfortably. But, still, not very big. _

_As he peered through the metal bars he could make out other cages, all empty. He was pretty sure that he was alone. He couldn't see anyone, not even an outline. And he didn't hear any noises except his own heavy breathing. And the only blood he could smell was his, so he was most definitely alone. _

_He had no idea where he was. The last thing he remembered was fighting with some Shadow Slayers, and they were driving him into the woods. He hadn't noticed until they were fighting amongst the trees. Still, he was winning. Until something bashed him over the head and everything went black. _

_Then he'd woken up here. He had a vague feeling of where 'here' was. Although, it was just a hunch. Wouldn't it be just so damn hilarious if he was kidnapped by Arthasians _again?_  
What would this be? The third time? Well, at least their changing things up. Instead of sending immortals after him, this time they sent psyco cult-like humans. . . _

_He sat alone in the dark for a little while, leaning against the cold bars. He knew there was a lot of things he should be worrying about. If the others were alright, if I was okay, when he would get out of there. But, he didn't think about them. He just wanted to sleep. _

_He leaned his head back against the bars, and closed his eyes.  
He was drifting when he heard a creaking sound, and smelled humans, and one vampire. _

_He opened his eyes, and saw light shining from a door. People were stepping into the dungeon like room. They shut the door behind them, cutting off light.  
But, they flicked on the lights above. The lights were dim, but at least he could see a little now. _

_He wasn't as pleased about seeing again as he thought he'd be. Because the first person he saw, was Princess Aurora. She was coming towards the cage, flanked by a group of Shadow Slayers. She had on a slim blood red gown that reached the floor. Her blonde hair flowed around her shoulders and a smiled played on her full lips. And he hated her with a passion. The sight of her made his stomach lurch, and made him want to break things. _

_She came closer to the cage, and bent over it, her hands on her knees. She peered at him through the bars, smirking.  
"Morning darling" she said sweetly. _

_Unable to think of a response, Austin snarled at her.  
She laughed, "Cranky I see" she said "Understandable. You are pretty banged up. . .possible concussion. . .and I have reason to believe you have several broken ribs" _

_"Not to mention I'm in a cage" he snapped.  
"You don't like it?" she asked with mock surprise "I thought it'd be a refreshing change from that dreary suite you usually stay in" _

_"Because I always enjoy being locked in cages" he growled sarcastically.  
"Well, you don't have to stay down here if you don't want" she said "All you have to do is promise to marry me and you can come upstairs to _our _room." _

_"I think I'd rather stay in the cage" he said tonelessly.  
She laughed, "I think a few nights down here will change your mind" _

_She straightened up then, and grabbed a key from around her neck.  
"Now, Austin" she said, putting the key in the lock, "I'm going to open this door, and your not going to try to escape." _

_"Then your clearly crazier then I thought" he snapped "Because I'm at least going to try and escape. Why wouldn't I?"  
"Because, your hurt, your tired, your outnumbered, and we don't want to have to hurt you" she said._

_He had to admit, those were pretty good reasons.  
But, attempting to escape still sounded appealing. _

_When Aurora swung the door open, Austin didn't move, he stayed put on the cold floor.  
"Well, come along" she prompted "Get up" _

_Unwillingly, he pushed himself to his feet. He gripped the iron bars for support.  
"Now come out" she continued slowly, as if she was dealing with a child. _

_He stepped out of the cage, but didn't feel any less trapped.  
He stood on the threshold of the cage. _

_He wanted to make a run for the door, but that would be stupid. He was obviously _under _the palace. Which would mean that the door would probably lead him to the upstairs of the palace, which would be full of people. Not to mention that, even here, he was outnumbered. _

_"Now, I'm not going to drink from you . . .today" Aurora continued "Your to drained as it is. . .Although, the scent of all the spilled blood is making me kind of thirsty"  
She grinned, revealing her elongated fangs. _

_"Then why did you take me out" he asked, keeping his voice emotionless.  
"Because I want to see if you can be trusted not to run" she explained. _

_He had a lot of smart-ass responses to that, but thought better of them. About ninety percent of them would get him slapped, and ten percent would get his remaining blood drained.  
So, he bit his tongue. And ground his teeth to keep from responding. _

_Aurora reached out then, to touch his hair. She twirled the bloody, dirty lock of hair around her finger a few times. Austin didn't move, he knew that was the best move right now.  
"You are absolutely filthy" Aurora noted "Once you come to your senses, and all this is over, I really need to give you a good bath" _

_He couldn't take keeping quiet anymore. "I think I'm quite capable of bathing myself" he snapped, bitterly sarcastic.  
She smiled, "You'd be surprised how difficult it is do simple tasks with a broken arm" _

_Austin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "My arms not broken" he said slowly.  
He was sure it wasn't. Actually, his arm was one of the few things that _wasn't _broken. _

_"Really?" she asked, reaching out to touch his arm. She probed along his bloody arm, gently poking it with her thumb and pointer finger. She started at his shoulder and worked her way down his arm. When she reached halfway between his elbow and his hand, she paused. Her grip on his arm tightened, and she smiled. Then, she snapped it. _

_The sound of the bone cracking echoed through the spacious room. Austin chocked on a scream, and stumbled back into the cage.  
Aurora slammed the door in his face. _

_In agonizing pain, he dropped to his knees, cradling his broken arm to his chest. Panting, he fell the rest of the way to the floor, and curled on his side.  
He breathed in shakily, clutching his arm. He gritted his teeth and tried not to scream. A whine did, however, escape his lips. _

_Looking pleased, Aurora said "Looks like it is broken after all"  
He wanted to scream at her, to call her an evil bitch, and curse her out. But he couldn't. If he opened his mouth he would definitely scream._

_Aurora smiled down at him, and blew him a kiss.  
She strutted over to the door, and paused there. _

_"Sleep well my angel" she said before disappearing. _

_They shut the door behind them, and turned the lights back off.  
Alone in the dark, with pain surging through his arm, he lay on the cage floor. _

_He wanted to go home._

* * *

I hadn't realized I was screaming until I snapped out of it.  
And I was really_ screaming. _If you didn't no better, you'd think she had broken _my _arm. It sure felt like she did.

My grandmother was shaking my shoulders.  
"Becca" she said "Becca, wake up"

I blinked a few times, but didn't stop screaming yet. I let it go on for another thirty seconds before giving it a rest.  
I slumped back against the wall, panting.

"What is it?" my grandmother asked "What happened?"  
"Aurora-Aurora broke Austin's arm!" I shouted.

"Princess Aurora?" my grandmother asked, surprised.  
"See, I told you it was the Arthasians" Attis said smugly from across the room.

She ignored him, "Where is he?" she asked.  
"In some kind of dungeon. . .in a cage. . .below the Arthasian palace" I gasped "Aurora said that she wasn't letting him go until he agreed to marry her. And they were talking, and she said something about his arm being broken. . .and he said it wasn't. So, she took his arm and looked at it for a minute. And then just-just snapped it"

Vitani slammed her hand down on the desk in the corner, "That little bitch!" she shouted.  
Nobody repremened her for cursing like I expected.

"Harmony" my grandmother commanded "Get the Council on the phone"  
One of the women, who I assumed was Harmony, nodded and ducked out of the room.

"The Council won't do shit" Vitani snarled.  
"Now, Vitani-" my grandmother began.

"She's right" I interjected "The Council won't help, we have to do this ourselves"  
"We can't just go to the Arthasian Palace" my grandmother said lightly "All of the the young are injured, and many of the adults are horribly upset"

"We don't need everybody" Attis chimed in "We could-"  
"That's quite enough, Attis" my grandmother interupted harshly "Thank you for your service, but perhaps now you should go"

"Fine" he snapped, glaring at her. He shoved his way to the door, and slammed it behind him.  
Vitani's head whiped around to glare at her mother, "You didn't have to do that" she hissed.

"Attis doesn't know what he's talking about" her mother said "He doesn't realize all of the strategy and resources needed to break into the Arthasian Palace"  
"Well, then neither do I" Vitani snapped "Because as far as I see, a simple transportation spell could be used to bring us there and back"

"It's not that simple" my grandmother explained "The Arthasian Palace has wards all around it, it could take days to remove them"  
"Then let's get started" Vitani suggested harshly.

"The Council will handle things Vitani" grandmother soothed "They'll help him"  
"Did they help Aella!?" Vitani demanded, tears in her eyes, _"Did they!?" _

Her mother looked stunned, she stood frozen place.  
Eyes sparkling with tears, Vitani ran from the room.

My grandmother recovered after a minute, "I'm sorry about all that, Rebecca" she apologized "Don't you worry, we'll sort this out"  
She kissed me on the forehead, and left the room, along with her advisors. They closed the door behind them.

I had absoloutly no idea what just happened.  
All I know, is that they're planning to have the Council rescue Austin.

I also know that Vitani was right, we have to do this ourselves.


	15. Impossible

**_"Mission"_**

I lay in my hospital room, staring at nothing. I was going to go back into Austin's head, but I was afraid of the agonizing pain of his broken arm. Which, I guess makes me a coward. But I don't care, I just know that I can't handle that pain now.

I was trying to think of a plan to rescue Austin. I didn't know where the Arthasian capitol was. I had only been to an Arthasian city once, and I don't even know if that was the capitol or not. I didn't know what these 'ward' things were all about. And, I didn't know what to do.

I didn't even know who could help. I could go to Cold Springs and tell the Kardigans. Kate, her parents, and Alex would be helpful. And if Domingo, Tora, and the guys came, it'd be a pretty kick-ass team. But, for some reason, a six hour drive (whether them coming here, or me going there) seemed like a huge time waister. I needed to be in action, soon. I needed someone around here to help me.

As I was speculating who could help, Vitani burst into the room. She had changed into slim black pants and a black t-shirt. The tatoos on her face and arms could still be seen. The look on her face was extremly determined. In her hands was a pile of black fabric.

She threw the pile at me, and I caught it automatically.  
"Put those on" she instructed.

"Why? What are we doing?" I asked.  
"Going to rescue your boyfreind, that's what were doing" she said.

"Really?" I asked, perking up.  
"Yes, really" she said with an eye roll, "Me, you, Auxesia, Kiron, Thalia, Attis, and Raziel"

"_All_ of us are going?" I asked, surprised it was that many.  
"Actually, Auxesia and Thalia aren't coming" she said.

"Then what are they doing?" I asked.  
"They're gonna stay back here and de-arm the wards around the Palace" she explained "That way, once we're inside, we can use magic"

"Oh. . .so, you know where the Arthasian capitol is?" I checked.  
"Duh" she scoffed with an eye roll, "Of course I do. It's in France"

"_France?"_ I repeated.  
"Yep" she said carelessly, "Our flight leaves in two hours"

"We're taking a plane?" I asked "Why not just teleport there?"  
_"Because _it would take centuries for a witch to build up enough power to transport over oceans. I can only transport a few miles," she said.

"Oh. . .well, I can't thank you enough for this" I told her.  
"You don't have to" she said "I'm not _just _doing this for you and Austin. That's part of it. . .but I also want to kill that Shadow Slayer that got away"

"Which one?" I asked "Didn't a bunch of them get away?"  
"Yea, but one in particular. . .The one that hurt Athan did. . ." she said, gritting her teeth, "And when he wakes up, I want Athan to know that the man who did this to him is dead"

I didn't know what to say to that, so I didn't say anything at all.  
"Change into those, and meet us in the weapon room" she said, and left. She closed the door behind her.

I changed into the clothes. Which turned out to be tight black pants, and a black t-shirt. Realizing that I needed shoes, I conjured up a pair of black sneakers. Those would probably be best for running and fighting.

Once I was done, I slipped out of my room. I wasn't sure how to get out of the third floor, so I wandered through the bland hallways of the infirmary until I found stairs. They took me to the second floor, which was more fammilar to me. I walked down the hallway near my room, because the weapons room was near there. I couldn't remember which room it was, so I listened. I heard voices coming from one room, and listened harder. I distinctly heard Vitani's voice.

I turned the handle, and it was surprisingly unlocked. I pushed it open and stepped inside the large cavernous room. The room had a _huge _ceiling, extedning up like fifty feet. Everything inside was made of metal, and looked extremly high-tech. Lining the walls were extremly scary looking weapons. Guns of different shapes and sizes, knives, swords, whips, bows and arrows, and weapons I couldn't even categorize. I was surprised there were so many weapons, I didn't think witches really used weapons. And that guess was confirmed last night.

There weren't just weapons in here though. There was a line of chrome, high-tech, motorcycles lined against the wall. A series of fancy computers and monitors were stationed in the far right corner, they were manned by two witch girls, they each had headsets and were fiddling with the computers. Standing by one of the weapon adorned walls were Raziel, Attis, Kiron, and Vitani. They were all dressed in black shirts and pants. It was a usual outfit for Raziel, but not so much for the others.

They seemed to be picking out weapons. Kiron seemed to be mentally debating over a bulky scary gun, and a tiny gun. Attis was hovering over a scary set of bows and arrows placed on a metal table. The bow and arrows didn't look like the kind I'd seen before. They were all silver and metal, even the arrows. And the tips of the arrows looked sharper then usual, and more jagged. Attis was running his hands over them, without touching them, and murmering to himself. Raziel was sharpning two blades against one another. And Vitani was cracking a black whip against the floor with a skeptical exspression.

"Good luck getting through air port security with all that" I said, closing the door behind me.  
Everyone looked up at the sound of my voice, although they guickly went back to what they were doing.

"We're witches Becca" Vitani said as I approached her, "Do you honestly think we don't have a spell to hide all this?"  
"I'm sure you do" I mumbled.

"Mhm. . .now, tell me" she said, grabbing another whip off the rack, "Which of these is better"  
She cracked the first whip against the metal floor, and the _snap _echoed through the room. She cracked the second one, and the _snap _sound was just as loud.

"They seem exactly the same to me" I said honestly.  
"Damn" she muttered.

"Do we really need all this?" I asked, gesturing around.  
"Hell yea we do" she said.

"But, isn't magic more powerful then human weapons. . " I trailed off.  
"Yea, but these weapons aren't human weapons. There charmed" she explained "Watch, I'll show you"

She grabbed the first whip, and murmered something. Then, little black thorns prutruded from the black whip. She snapped it against the floor, and little dents were left in the metal floor.  
"Wow" I muttered, impressed.

"Yea, and that's not even the best part" Vitani said, "Not only is everything in here charmed, but it's made especially to handle the supernatural"  
She pointed to the big gun Kiron was surveying, "Wooden bullets" she continued, pointing at the smaller gun, "Silver bullets.

She pointed to Raziel's blades, "Silver knives" she said.  
"That's great and all" I said "But what weapons do we use against Shadow Slayers, because you know we're gonna see more"

"Well, I'm pretty sure a thorned whip would hurt anybody. A bullet will bring down anybody, no matter what we make it out of. And a knife's a knife. Whether it's made of silver or not" she explained "And then of course, Attis has his bow. Now, he may be a bastard, but that bow is pretty badass"

Attis turned around to look at her, and rolled his eyes.  
"C'mon, Attis" she prompted "Why don't you give Becca a little demonstration"

He rolled his eyes again,"Whatever" he said, snapping his fingers. A target appeared on the wall farthest from him. He picked up the bow, and attached an arrow. He got into an archer's stance, with his hand pulled back, ready to release it. And then the serrated tip of the arrow began to glow red hot. Little red bolts began to crack around the whole arrow, looking like static electricity times ten. When he released the bow, it flew foward and slammed into the bull's eye of the target. Then the target began to melt, starting in the bull's eyes and extending out. Smoke rose from the target and wafted in the air.

"God, Attis" Kiron muttered "Would it kill you to practice with normal bows? Seriously, your gonna set off one of the fire alarms and then we'll be screwed"  
"Hey, don't blame me" Attis said "Vitani told me to"

"Since when do you listen to Vitani" Kiron asked, fiddling with the small gun in his hands.  
"Since I starting enjoying living" he said, smirking.

Vitani rolled her eyes, "C'mon Becca, let's suit you up"  
"I really don't trust myself with any of this" I said as she led me to the wall of weapons.

"Oh, you'll be fine" Vitani said dismissevly.  
"Yea, sure" I muttered.

"Okay, so pick your posion. Guns, knives, arrows, whips, swords, or stakes?" she asked casually. As if she was asking what I wanted for dinner.  
"Well. . .It's probably not safe for _me _to have a gun. . . or a bow. I think I'll take a knife, and a stake" I said.

"Okay, one silver knife, and one wooden stake, comin' up" she said, lifting her hands above her head.  
A knife, and a stake both flew down from their perches near the ceiling, and landed in her hands.

She handed them to me, and I stared at the weapons in my hands.  
Which is when I realized all our tattoos were still visible.

"Wait, how are we gonna go through an airport with all these crazy tattoos?" I asked.  
"Don't worry, we were just about to conceal them" Vitani said "We're more powerful when they're showing, so we'll take the spells off when we get to the palace"

"Oh, okay" I mumbled.  
"Well, before we conceal the tattoos. . .let's get you a little practice with those" she said.

"I don't need it" I told her "I probably won't even use them. . .I feel more comfortable using magic"  
Vitani shrugged, "Suit yourself" she said.

"Okay" she called "Pack it up." Everyone began to pack up their equipment. Kiron clenched his fingers tightly around the guns, and they disapeared into his hands. Then he stuffed his hands into his pockets. Raziel strapped his knives to his upperarms, and then pulled his shirt down to cover them. Attis moved his hands over his bow and arrows, muttering to himself. Then, they began to shrink, 'till they were about the size of an Ipod. He took out a black backpack, and put the little bow and arrows into a zippered compartment of the bag. Vitani snapped her fingers, and her black whip went up in a puff of smoke. She plucked the weapons from my hands, and shrunk them down with some spell. Then she went over to the table where Attis was loading equipment into a backpack. Vitani snapped her fingers, and an identical bag appeared. She stuffed my weapons inside, along with some knives, guns, and stakes. She also put in some electronic devices. A couple looked like cellphones, and some looked like GPS's. The others I had no idea what they were.

Raziel and Kiron had gone to talk to the girls by the computers. They were talking, and pointing to stuff on the monitors.  
Attis and Vitani were loading up bags full of weapons and electronics, so I had a small period of free time. I decided to go check on Austin again.

_******_

_Austin was still in the cage, beneath the Arthasian palace. His broken arm felt like it was on fire, and everything else ached. He felt tired, he wanted to go back to sleep. But the pain made it hard, and much more appealing. He was in the same position he was when Aurora left, curled up on the cold floor. Soaked in blood, covered in cuts and bruises, broken bones, and horribly disoreinted. The pain made him dizzy, he didn't even want to imagine how woozy he would feel standing up. So, he stayed on the floor. _

_Aurora hadn't come back down sense her first visit, and he was hopeing she wouldn't come down for a while. God knows what she would do to him next time. This time it was a broken arm, maybe next time she'd break his other arm, or his leg. . .or even worse, drink his blood. He'd rather her break all his bones then drink his blood. He hated giving blood. It made him feel vulnerable, and submissive and weak. He didn't know how Blood Donor's did it. . .maybe it takes a certain type of person to give blood. . .well, he was definetly not one of those people._

_As these thoughts ran through his head, his eyelids began to feel heavier, and heavier. Until soon he couldn't keep them open anymore. So, he let them close. The only sign that he was conscience was the pain, and the sound of his own breathing. Although, soon, he began to drift in and out of conscieness. And after a few minutes, he was sleeping dreamlessly. _

_*****_

I wasn't sure if going into Austin's head had made me feel better, or worse. It made me feel worse, because Austin was suffering and trapped. But, it made me feel better because I knew Aurora wasn't messing with him at the moment, and he was resting.

As I debated this, I saw everyone getting ready to go. Vitani and Attis both had backpacks slung over their shoulders, and everyone else looked ready too.  
"Becca, you ready to go?" Vitani asked.

I blinked a couple times, "Oh, yea" I mumbled.  
"Okay, first we gotta handle the tattoos" Vitani said.

"Now, this'll only take a second. . ." Vitani mumbled, taking a jar from the counter. She reached in and took out a handful of blue dust and sprinkled it over her head. It disolved when it hit her hair, and her tattoos began to fade away, until they were all gone. She sprinkled the dust over everybody's head, and mumbled to herself. Everyone's tattoos disapeared when the dust hit them, even Raziel's. When she got to me, I could feel my tattoos disolving. It wasn't painful, but I my arms, back, and forehead felt all tingly.

"Okay, and now we're ready" Vitani said, heading towards the opposite end of the room.  
"Uh, the door is on this side?" I said it like a question.

"We kinda gotta take the window. . .or else we'll get caught" Vitani told me.  
"Oh" I muttered.

One by one, everybody leaped from the window. Except for the two girls by the computer.  
"Keep us posted" one of them told Vitani before she jumped out the window.

I walked over to the edge, and perched on the windowsil. I looked down at the snow covered front yard, where the others were slinking towards the driveway, where a black van was parked. I jumped off the ledge, and used wind to lighten my fall. I soundlessly hit the snow, and followed them to the van. Raziel was in the driver's seat, and Kiron was in the passenger seat. The back of the van had no seats, just one huge trunk. Vitani and Attis were crouching back there, with the backpacks on the ground next to them. I opened the back doors and climbed in with them. I slammed the door shut, and leaned against the side.

"And we're off to France"


	16. Never Too Late

**_"Departure"_**

The car swerved out of the driveway, and began flying down the road. We passed a multitude of big mansions, slightly smaller then my grandmother's. If I had to guess, I would say that they all belonged to witches. Austin _had _said this was probably an Azimon Witch commune. I bet most of the members of the Black Rose live around here. After all, the name of the village _does _mean black magic in Azimon Italian.

Kiron and Raziel were quiet as we drove. Kiron was fingering with a machine that looked like a GPS. Attis and Vitani were laying on their stomachs, maps spread out between them. They were bickering, about what our plan was.

I leaned up against the closed doors, and randomly a thought came to my mind. Had anyone called the Kardigan's and told them that Austin was kidnapped? My grandmother said they were calling the Council to tell them, but what about the Kardigan's? Of course, the Council would tell them . . . but, chances were they hadn't told them yet. Didn't they have a right to know as soon as possible? It was there son.

I should tell them, I decided as I took out my phone. I scrolled through the contacts to Kate's number, and pressed call. I pressed the phone to my ear, listening to the ringing. Kate picked up on the third ring.

_"Hey, Becca"_ she said casually, obviously she didn't know.  
"Hi" I said uncomfortably.

_"So, what's up? Did you freak on Austin for crashing your party?"_ she asked, laughing.  
"No, It wasn't that bad. . .we. . ." I gulped "had fun"

_"Oh, well, that's cool . . .so, what's up?"_ she asked.  
"I. . .I gotta tell you something" I told her.

_"Well, what is it?"_ she asked.  
"Austin-Austin's gone" I choked.

_"Gone? What do you mean 'gone?'"_ she asked, her voice increasing in pitch.  
"He was taken by the Arthasians" I said.

_**"WHAT!?!?!"**_ she screeched, so loud I could barely understand what it was she said.  
"There was-there was an incident. . .Shadow Slayers invaded the after party . . . and-and a lot of people are seriously hurt. . .and-and they took Austin" I managed.

_"How do you know it was the Arthasians!?"_ she demanded.  
"Because-because I went into Austin's head. . .he's in a prison underneath the Arthasian capitol" I told her.

She didn't respond, but I did hear a crashing sound, like a phone hitting the floor. And then I could hear Kate screaming distantly.  
_**"Mom!! Dad!!!"** _she screamed, ridiculously loud even at distance from the phone, _**"Alex!!" **_

I could hear footsteps, and then voices came next, slightly muffled.  
_"What is it?" _Alex demanded.

_"Austin-Austin's been kidnapped!"_ she said, and I could tell she was panicking,_ "Becca called-she said they invaded the party-and took him"  
_I could hear a crashing noise in the background.

Mrs. Kardigan, sounding relatively calm, spoke _"Honey, where's the phone"  
_I could hear the phone being handled, and then Mrs. Kardigan was on the other end of the receiver.

_"Becca?"_ she asked.  
"Yes" I said shakily.

_"Is it true?"_ she asked, voice unsteady, _"Was Austin kidnapped?"  
_"Yes" I said, voice breaking.

Before she could answer, I could hear the phone being snatched away.  
By Kate, apparently.

_"Does the Council know!?" _she demanded.  
"Yea, my grandmother called them" I told her.

I could hear Alex's angry voice in the background, _"The Council won't do anything!" _he snarled.  
"He's right" I said numbly "They won't"

_"Then what are we-"_ she began.  
"Don't worry, we're handling it" I told her.

"Wait, what are you doing-" I cut her off when I snapped the phone shut.  
I couldn't tell Kate what we were doing, so I just shoved the phone in my pocket.

I made a sound that was half-sigh, and half-groan. I slumped back against the doors, burying my face in my hands.  
"Don't worry" Vitani said "We're gonna find him"

"Not with your plan" Attis grumbled.  
"Shut up" Vitani snapped at him.

I lifted my hand out of my head to look at them. Vitani was looking at me, an anxious expression on her face.  
"What is it?" I asked.

"Nothing" she said automatically, and then sighed, "It's just. . .It's just that there's something I didn't tell you"  
"_What" _I demanded.

"There were-there were a few others who are missing. . .we think they've been taken by the Arthasians too" she told me.  
"Why would the Arthasians take anyone else?" I asked.

"I don't know, prisoners of war?" she suggested.  
"Well, why are you telling me now?" I asked.

"Because we want you to see if they're in the same place as Austin" Vitani explained.  
"I didn't see anybody down there before" I told her "Just a bunch of empty cages"

"Then look again" Attis snapped venomously.  
"Why do you care" I retorted, glaring.

"Because one of them is my sister" he snapped back.  
That brought me up short, and I didn't know what to say. I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it again.

"I'll look" I mumbled finally, trying to go into Austin's head. It wasn't working, though. I immediately knew this was because he was still asleep.  
I opened my eyes, and looked up at them, "Sorry, he's sleeping" I told them.

"Useless bastard" Attis muttered.  
"Hey!" I snapped "Don't you talk about him like that! He has a _right _to sleep right now. He's being held captive in a freezing cold basement, without anything to drink, having lost dizzying amounts of blood, with several broken ribs, a broken arm, and a concussion, and countless bruises and cuts. . .so, why don't you just shut the fuck up"

Attis flinched forward, as if to lunge at me. But, Vitani put up an arm to stop him.  
"Alright, alright" she said "Both of you, calm down"

Attis relaxed, leaning back against the back of the passenger seat in front of him.  
I crossed my arms heavily over my chest, and growled lowly at him. In response, he bared his teeth at me.

Vitani rolled her eyes and turned to gaze out the window.  
I followed her example, and looked out the window at the passing scenery, I could tell there was a forlorn expression on my face.

After a few minutes, I could see the airport up ahead.  
Planes flew overhead, descending and ascending.

"Wow, that was fast" I muttered.  
"Yea, we're pretty close to the airport . . . " Vitani murmured as we entered the parking lot.

Raziel found a parking spot easily, despite the fact that it was packed. Considering it was a Saturday, it wasn't that surprising that a lot of people were flying.  
We got out of the van, and I felt kinda weird considering our lack of real luggage.

We quickly made our way inside, where Raziel handled the first set of service people we had to deal with.  
We soon moved on to the next stage, baggage check and the whole metal detector thing.

Vitani went first. She removed her shoes, and haughtily walked through the metal detector.  
I noticed her gently brush her hand against the machine. She went through, without it going off.

When she was done, she leaned against the machine as she put her shoes back on.  
Kiron went next, and nothing happened. Then Attis, and then Raziel (whom I knew had several knives on him.) I went next, and nothing happened either.

I watched anxiously as the two bags passed through the machine. Vitani was muttering to herself as they went through. And, when the x-ray scan of the bag came up on the monitor. It showed only normal looking things. . .none of the weapons that it contained.

We took the bags, put on our shoes, and headed for the terminal.  
"Okay, how did you do that?" I demanded.

Vitani shrugged, "I used a spell to override the machines" she said.  
"Well, good thing you did. Or else we'd be in a shit load of trouble with airport security" I mumbled.

"Hell yea we would" she agreed.  
As we walked, everyone stared at us. Not surprising since we appear to be a bunch of teenagers, all good looking, wearing all back clothes, with little baggage, going to France.

Not something you see everyday. Or, at least it shouldn't be. . .

We got into the terminal, and boarded the plane quickly, just making it. The plane left moments after we boarded. We were flying first class, which was nice.  
I wasn't sure how long the flight to France was, and I wasn't sure exactly _where _in France we were going. But, I really didn't care at the moment.

I sat in a big comfy seat, in between Vitani and Attis. God knows how I ended up being stuck in between the two of them.  
But, I wasn't up for arguing with anyone about seating arrangements, I was too tired.

So, I just reclined and watched the movies on my personal mini tv for a while. Several hours actually, several movies.  
Once one of my movies was over, I removed my headphones, my ears were starting to ache.

I glanced around me. Most of the passengers were asleep, including Vitani, Raziel, and Kiron.  
Attis and I were the only of our group still awake. Attis looked tired, and was staring out the window vacantly at the twilight sky.

I decided to check on Austin again, he might be up now. I concentrated on moving into his head, just to see that he was _still _asleep. It made pity well up in my throat. My poor, poor Austin. He was so hurt and sick that he'd slept straight through the last four hours.

While trying to get into Austin's head, and while thinking about Austin, I kinda zoned out.  
I blinked a couple times, realizing that I was staring blankly at the front of the seat in front of me.

Apparently, Attis noticed my blank stare.  
"Kinda anti-social aren't cha?" he asked. I had to give it to him, it did look like I was purposely avoiding looking at him.

"I'm not anti-social" I said sweetly ". . .I just hate you"  
"Ha. Ha" he said, rolling his eyes.

I rolled my eyes in response, "Actually, I was checking on Austin again . . . he's still asleep" I told him.  
"God" Attis muttered.

"Stop being such a bastard" I hissed "Austin's been through a lot today. . .give him a break"  
"I know, I know, Bat Boy's got it hard" Attis conceded.

I rolled my eyes, "I'm going to sleep" I muttered.  
"Fine by me" he mumbled, going back to staring at the window.

It seemed like something was bothering him, but I didn't want to ask.  
Partially, because I didn't want to pry. Partially, because it wasn't my problem. And, partially, because I was too tired to do anything.

I had a flight attendant get me a pillow, and curled my knees up and tucked them in front of the arm rest.  
I placed the pillow under my head, and leaned my head back.

Soon, I was asleep.


	17. I'm Not Your Boyfriend Baby

**_"Journey"_**

I woke up just as we were descending. I had a feeling that the changing air pressure woke me up. I wasn't sure if that happened to humans, or if it was just an immortal thing.  
It seemed to wake the others up too. Because, just as I woke up, they all seemed to be getting up. Except for Attis, who looked like he'd never gone to sleep.

Once we landed, Attis and Vitani grabbed the bags from the overhead compartments, and we left. Once we got off the plane, it was like we were in another world. Everyone was speaking french, which was pretty confusing and annoying. Confusing, because I don't speak french. And, annoying, because I was just starting to understand some of the Italian, and now we switch to french. How damn convenient.

It was slightly comforting that the others didn't seem to speak french either, well except for Vitani. She spoke fluent french, which I guess didn't surprise me. Learning french had always seemed like something rich kids did, and Vitani was obviously a pretty rich kid.

She was able to get us through the and somehow managed to get us a rental car. The rental car was an oddly clean minivan. I say, oddly clean, because most minivans are not.  
We all piled in the minivan, with Raziel at the wheel.

"I hate minivans" Attis grumbled.  
"So do I, but I had to find us a car that we could all fit in" Vitani said.

"How far away is it?" I asked her randomly.  
She shrugged, "A few hours" she told me.

"Ugh" everyone groaned simultaneously.  
I decided to go check on Austin again, I didn't have anything better to do. So, I reached out to his mind, and found that he was awake.

_*****_

_Austin had just woken up a couple of minutes ago. He been woken up a few minutes ago, by a noise in the silence. It sounded like a heavy door slamming shut. And, immediately, he'd woken up. And, automatically, become alert. He was still in excruciating pain, his arm seemed to be getting worse instead of better. But, he ignored it, and struggled to his feet. He leaned back heavily against the bars, holding his broken arm to his chest. _

_He could hear faint footsteps, echoed by heavier footsteps. He stared at the barely visible door across the room from him. Waiting for it to open, as he knew it would. Eventually, he heard the tumbling noises of heavy locks being undone. And then, the door swung open. Light poured in, illuminating Aurora and the Shadow Slayers. They shut the door behind them as they flipped on the dim lights. Aurora's greedy eyes touched on him, and a sickening smile curled her lips. She strode towards him, flanked by her human lackies. _

_She leaned against the cage bars, her hands gripping the bars loosely. She smiled disturbingly at him, "Morning sunshine, how's the arm?" she sneered.  
He snarled wordlessly in response. _

_"Still tired, I see" she noted.  
"Leave. Me. Alone." he growled between gritted teeth _

_"You don't enjoy my company?" she asked with mock-hurt.  
"I'd enjoy a root canal more" he hissed. _

_She laughed, "Always so stubborn" she said.  
"If your done harassing me" he snarled "I'd like to go back to imagining your death" _

_"You can do that later, after we discuss wedding details" she said, smirking.  
He stared blankly at her, "You honestly think I'm gonna marry you?" he asked, in a voice questioning her sanity. _

_"You will" she told him ". . . Everybody has a breaking point"  
"Mine will be after I'm dead" he snapped. _

_"You know that's not true" she said "You know that you _have _to stay alive. It's your responsibility to keep yourself alive. Think of the millions that would die if you allowed yourself to be killed"  
"You'd be surprised how selfish I can be" he snarled. _

_"You may think you are. . .but, in the end, we all know you're going to marry me to save your life, along with the lives of the entire world" she said.  
"Don't bet on it" he hissed. _

_"Think what you like" she said "But, I know how this is going to end"  
"You don't know anything" he growled "If you did, you would know that I wouldn't marry you to save my life." _

_"You'll see-" she paused, as if she was trying to think of something.  
She snapped her fingers repeatedly, like she was trying to remember something. "What was that cute little nickname that your mutt-girlfreind called you?" she asked, half to herself. _

_Austin didn't respond, he just glared at her.  
"Aussie!" she rejoiced "That was it! Aussie. . ." _

_His glare increased in intensity.  
"I have to give it to the mutt, that's an adorable pet name she came up with" Aurora noted. _

_"Don't call her that" he snapped.  
"If you don't want me to, I won't" she said matter-of-factly "It doesn't matter, anyway. She'll be dead soon enough" _

_Austin froze, "What" he demanded in a dangerous snarl.  
"As soon as I get the chance, I'm gonna kill her" she repeated, not an ounce of anger in her voice. Just thoughtfulness. _

_Austin slammed forward into the bars, with such force that Aurora stumbled back a bit. He gripped the bars tightly, ignoring the searing pain in his hands.  
"Killing her won't help you" he snarled "I'll only hate you more, I'll kill you. I swear to God, I'll kill you" _

_"No you won't" she said primly "Once she's dead, you'll be in ruins. Pathetic, broken. You'll automatically cling to the nearest living person to keep yourself from drowning in loneliness and depression. And, that person will be me." _

_Austin had heard of what happened to someone after their Blood Bound partner was killed. They spun into an intense depression. And, they immediatly became attached to the next person they see, just to keep themselves from going crazy with depression. They didn't even realize it, it just happened. _

_"I would never become attached to you" he hissed "I wouldn't let it happen"  
She smiled, "You don't get a choice though. After the mutt is dead, you'll be so depressed that you won't even remember me telling you this" _

_In intense frustration, he shook the bars, causing the whole cage to shake.  
His lips curled back from his teeth, and he snarled furiously. _

_"Easy there, baby" she mocked "Your gonna hurt yourself"  
"Don't. Call. Me. That." he growled. _

_She tilted her head to the side in a questioning way, "Still tired, honey? You seem a little stressed" she said.  
"A little stressed?" he repeated, sounding baffled, "_A little stressed!? _I am _not _a 'little stressed.' I'm mother fuckin' pissed" _

_"Why so upset sweetheart?" she asked.  
"Because your planning to kill my girlfriend!" he shouted "That's why!" _

_"Don't worry angel" she soothed "I'll take good care of you after she's gone"  
"Stop it!" he shouted, seeming exasperated, "Stop _all _of it! The pet names, the baby talk, the patronizing. _Just stop it!"

_Aurora's sweet expression morphed into a glare. "I think you'll find that you're much better off when I act like this" she hissed "Do you understand"  
He continued to glare but, almost without realizing it, he found himself nodding stiffly. _

_Aurora's expression transformed back to the sickly sweet one. "Good boy" she chirped patronizingly.  
He glowered, and his hands tightened around the bars. Had he possessed his full strength he would have probably snapped the bars. But, now, he was barely denting them. _

_"Well, I should leave you alone now. You look like you could use another nap" she said.  
He glowered at her as she headed back to the door, her guards following her. _

_She paused in the doorway, and smiled sickeningly at him. The smile gave him the impression that she was laughing at him.  
"Now you just take a wittle nap, and when you wake up, the nasty little mutt will have gone bye-bye" she told him, using baby talk with him again. _

_Austin snarled again, low in his throat.  
"Nighty, nighty Aussie" she told him, blowing him a kiss before disappearing out the door. The Shadow Slayers flicked the lights off, and closed the door behind them._

_Frustrated and angry, Austin shook the cage bars violently and shouted wordlessly. He slammed forward into the bars repeatedly, not sure why he was doing it. His broken arm, and ribs were screaming in protest from being slammed around, but he barely noticed. He was too angry, too frustrated. After about five minutes of this, he stopped. He slumped back against the bars, wrapping his arms around his knees and pulling them to his chest. He pressed his forehead to his knees, and began to sob. Not quite crying, there were no tears. He hadn't _actually _cried in years, and he wasn't planning on doing it now. So, he just sobbed tearlessly. Not because he was trapped. Not because he was hurt. Not because he was being harassed. No. . .he sobbed because they were going to kill the love of his life, and he was too weak and powerless to do anything about it. _

*****

When I was back in my own body, I realized I was hyperventilating. Taking in unsteady broken breaths, like someone who was crying.  
Everyone had turned around in there seats to stare at me with concerned expressions.

"Becca?" Vitani asked cautiously.  
I put up a finger, indicating for her to wait while I caught my breath.

I took a minute to steady my breathing, with them staring at me the whole while.  
Eventually, I was breathing normally, or semi-normally at least.

"Uh, what just happened?" Attis asked.  
"I was in Austin's head" I panted "And, and he was talking to Aurora. And she said that she-she was going to kill me, so that Austin would become attached to her"

"I've heard of that" Vitani said, seeming more rational then I would've liked at this point, "It's called Bond Displacement"  
"Why are you not freaking out!?" I demanded "She wants me dead!"

"I thought we already knew that" Vitani said it like a question.  
That kinda brought me up short, "Yea, I guess we did. . .but, she's like planning to do it _soon. _And where do you think they're gonna go to find me?" I asked.

"My house" Vitani realized.  
"Exactly" I told her "And everyone there is already hurt, they're not gonna be prepared"

"Oh fuck" Attis muttered.  
"I have to call them" Vitani mumbled numbly, pulling out her phone.

"I thought we didn't want them to know what we're doing" I said.  
"They probably already do" Vitani said "Besides, a phone call won't give them any more information"

Without waiting for my response, Vitani pulled out her cellphone and punched in some numbers. She held the phone to her ear and waited for about a second. I could hear the buzzing of a voice on the other end of the phone after one ring.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Vitani shouted over the voice, "Just be quite! I need to tell you something!"  
More buzzing, it definetly sounded angry.

"I know!" she shouted. ". . . . . . Well, you weren't gonna do anything about it. . . . . . . the Council won't do shit! I told you that already. . . . . . Oh come off it! You know they won't help . . . . . . .we don't _need _there help, we can handle this on our own . . . . . . We can! Now will you just- . . . . . . . Mom! Seriously, stop! I have to tell you something! . . . . Thank you. Now, Becca says that the Arthasians are planning to kill her, and there probably going to go back to the house to look for her"

The buzzing started again, a little bit louder. But, it didn't help me make out the words any better.  
"Because she was in Austin's head!" Vitani shouted " . . . . . . Princess Aurora told him! . . . . . I do not know! I wasn't there! . . . . . Okay, can you just shut up for two seconds? This is important. . . . . . thank you. Now, their gonna send people to the house, and your gonna have to be ready . . . . . I don't know what they're sending! They could send anything! More Shadow Slayers, werewolves, vampires, I don't know! . . . . . Well, your the goddamn psychic, you tell me!"

". . . . . . . No, _Mom, _I don't understand. I'm not psychic, remember? . . . . . . Well, maybe if Aella was still alive _she _could tell you! You always loved her more anyway!"  
And with that, Vitani shut her phone and put it back in her pocket.

She looked up at our baffled expressions.  
"I warned them" she said innocently.

"I can't believe you talk to your mother like that" I mumbled.  
"Especially considering that your mother's the first witch" Attis added.

"She was being difficult" Vitani defended herself.  
There was a short silence before I blurted out "Who's Aella?"

Vitani stared at me blankly, "She's nobody" she told me.  
She turned to stare out the window then, pointedly ignoring everyone.

I turned my questioning look to Attis. He waved me off, signalling that he either wouldn't tell me, or he couldn't tell me.  
I sighed, giving up, and leaned back against the seat.

Slowly, over the course of a couple of hours, everyone began to fall asleep. Vitani, and Kiron fell asleep. And Attis appeared to be asleep.  
Everyone except Raziel and I were awake.

Bored, I considered checking on Austin again. But, decided against it. I didn't want to see him like that again. It was heartbreaking.  
So, I just stared out the tinted window blankly for a while.

"Becca?"  
I turned around to see Attis looking at me. Well, I _thought _he was asleep.

"Yea?" I asked.  
"When you were . . . in Austin's head, did you see anybody" he asked.

"No, sorry" I told him, feeling bad.  
He sighed, "I didn't think so"

"I'm sure your sisters okay" I told him.  
"Yea" he mumbled.

"Older or younger?" I asked.  
"What?"

"Your sister. Is she younger or older?" I explained.  
"Oh, she's younger" he told me.

"How old?" I wondered.  
"twelve" he said.

"Oh. . .what's she look like" I asked.  
He shrugged, "Blond hair, green eyes. . .tan. She didn't have any tattoos yet . . . she was gonna get them on her thirteenth" he mumbled.

"What do you mean 'was'" I asked "We're gonna find her"  
"Yea" he muttered, unconvinced.

I sighed, and leaned my head back against the seat. I wasn't really that tired, but I was gonna need my energy, so I decided to take a nap. Whenever I'm stressed out, I can pretty much make myself sleep. So, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. Soon, I was asleep.

*****

I dreamed this time. Strange flash-like dreams. First I got a flash of Athan in his hospital bed, his blue eyes suddenly flying open. And then a silver Maserati speeding down a highway. Next I saw Princess Fama, leaning against a big heavy metal door, as if she was trying to eavesdrop on someone.

Then I saw, what at first I thought was me, but I soon realized it wasn't. This girl looked similar to me, she had the same hair, similar facial features, and a similar body. But, her eyes were a glowing violet. And her tattoos were identical to mine, only in silver. She wore a dress that looked like it belonged in the 1600's. It was a peach color, with half ruffled sleeves. It reached almost to the floor, with white lace sticking out at the bottom. There were splotches of blood on the dress, and on her face. She was in what looked like the basement below the Arthasian palace. It looked a little different though. Instead of metal floors, it had dirt floors. And instead of metal walls, it had stone walls. The heavy metal door had been exchanged for a wooden door with weird locks. And the metal cages didn't look as sturdy. But, this girl wasn't in a cage, she was chained to the wall. Metal cuffs wrapped around her wrists and ankles, connecting her to the wall. She tried to break free of the chains by pulling on them. She screamed loudly, a high pitched wail of a scream.

That flash disapeared quickly though, and moved on to the next. This one showed a pretty blond girl with green eyes, with blood and dirt splotched all over her. She was huddled in the corner of a metal room, along with several other people. But, I didn't have time to really see those, because it quickly switched to the next one. This time it was a dream I was used to having. It was of the blond baby I was used to seeing. With his lightly tanned skin, and dark brown eyes. He was sitting on the floor in a nursery, wearing green footy pajamas, and crying.

*****

When that dream ended, I woke up. It looked like early morning, the sun was barely rising. We were parked in front of a motel, and everyone was up. They were grabbing bags and getting out of the car. I unbuckled and scrambled out of the car behind them.

"What are we doing?" I asked nobody in particular.  
"We're gonna crash here for now, we're all beat" Vitani answered.

"Oh. . .well, fine by me" I said "Will we be at the capitol by tomorrow?"  
"We should be" Vitani mumbled as we all headed inside. We checked into our rooms. Me, and Vitani shared a room, and so did Kiron and Attis. Raziel got his own.

I laid in my bed, staring at the ceiling. I could hear Vitani's even breathing in the bed next to mine, and knew she was asleep. The other's were probably out too, but I couldn't sleep. And I most definitely couldn't go back into Austin's head, it would be too sad. I contemplated using telepathy and telling Austin that we were coming for him and that I was okay. But, I had the faint impression that if I told Austin we were coming, he would tell me not to come. He wouldn't want me to endanger myself to save him, which is his most annoying quality. So, I would have to wait to talk to him. And since sleep wasn't coming, I had nothing else to do. So, I just laid there and rested 'till the others woke up, and we could leave for the capitol.


	18. Sick And Tired

**_"The Darklings"_**

The sun was starting to set when Vitani woke up. She mumbled and rolled over to face me, rubbing her eyes.  
"Uh" she groaned "What time is it?"

I glanced at my phone resting on the nightstand between us. "6:38" I told her.  
"We should get going" she mumbled, pushing the blankets off her.

She was wearing an aqua tank top and pink cotton shorts. One of the perks of magic, you never have to pack clothes, you can just conjure some. Vitani padded over to the door, and walked out. Outside , I could hear her knocking on the boys doors to wake them up. I kicked the blankets off and got to my feat. I had zapped in a pair of a black sweatpants and white tank top. I stood there for a minute, before plopping back down on the bed. I decided to check on Austin, just to see that he was sleeping again. I sighed heavily as Vitani came back into the room.

"There gonna be a while" she told me "Attis is like out cold. . . Thats what he gets for staying awake for the whole ride."  
"Oh, okay" I mumbled.

"Yea" Vitani agreed, sitting down on her bed, "So we have some time to ourselves."  
"Yea, I guess" I mumbled.

"Did you check on Austin yet?" Vitani asked.  
"Yea, he's asleep" I told her.

"Oh. . . So, why haven't you used telepathy to talk to him?" she wondered.  
I sighed, "Because if I did, then he'd try to convince me not to go after him. That's probably why he hasn't tried to contact me. He's probably hopeing I haven't checked up on him and seen how bad off he is. He knows that if he reaches out to me, I'll see how hurt he is and come after him. So, he's probably assuming I don't know how horrible things are for him and playing it safe. Which is stupid. . . Cause does he honestly think I wouldn't check on him?" I asked rhetorically.

"You did say he probably has a concussion" she added.  
"Maybe that's it" I mumbled.

"Yea . . . That or he's delusional from blood loss" Vitani suggested.  
"Mhm" I mumbled, deep in thought, "Vitani? If I asked you a serious question, would you promise to tell me the truth?"

"That depends on the question" she said cautiously.  
"Just promise" I told her.

"Okay, okay" she said "I promise."  
"Good" I said "Now, who's Aella?" I asked.

She sighed heavily, "You'd think I would've learned not to make deals without knowing the consequences by now" she mumbled.  
"Just tell me who she is" I said. For whatever reason, I got a weird feeling every time someone mentioned her name.

Vitani sighed again, "Oh fine. She was my sister, alright" she told me.  
"Your sister?" I repeated. That would make her my aunt. . .

"Half sister actually" she told me "Her father was King Zephorous."  
"What!?!?!" I demanded, completly taken back.

"My mom and the king used to be like totally in love" she explained "I know, creepy. But they've been separated since she ditched the Council like four hundred years ago"  
"Why did she leave the Council?" I wondered.

"Because she blamed the king for Aella's death. . .so she divorced him and resigned" she explained.  
"Oh. . . . .so, Aella was half vampire?" I asked, surprised.

"Yea. A half-breed, just like you" she mumbled, almost smiling.  
"So, she was the princess?" I checked.

"Yea, about four hundred years ago" she said.  
"So, you never actually knew her" I clarified.

"Not personally, no" she muttered "But I might as well have."  
"You don't like her" I noted.

"Not really. . . It's just-she was so perfect. And psychic. . . And I always got the impression that my mother loved her more then she loved me."  
"You know thats not true" I told her.

"Yea, I know" she mumbled "But, it's just that she was so perfect, and everybody loved her."  
Vitani pointed her finger, and a book appeared next to her. I switched my seat so that I was sitting next to Vitani. I glanced at the book, on the cover was an eye, that looked similar to my tattoo, only in gold. The title across the top read _"Our Darkest Day."_

"Whats this?" I asked.  
"Its a book" she told me "It's about Aella's death."

I looked at her curiously as she picked up the book and opened it.  
"Many people consider Aella's death the darkest day in Azimon history" she continued.

"Wow" I mumbled as she flipped through the pages.  
"I told you she was loved" she muttered.

She stopped on a page with a picture of a girl on it. The original picture was obviously a painting, but a very detailed one. It showed a teenage girl, a witch by her tattoos. She had dark curly hair, piled onto a crown above her head. Her skin was lightly tanned, and she had a pretty face. Her eyes were wide and distinctly purple. Her red lips were spread into a stunning smile. In the center of her forehead was a gold eye tattoo. She wore an emerald green, floor length, gown. The top was tight fitted, but spread into a billowing gown at her waist. She looked exactly like the girl in my dream, startlingly like me.

"Thats her" I mumbled.  
"Yep. . .Aella. . . Aella the charming. Aella the stunning. Aella the mystifying" Vitani listed in a slightly bitter tone "Aella the lovely. Aella the formidable. Aella the enchanting. Aella the all knowing. Aella the bewitching. Aella the unprejudiced. Aella the compelling. Aella the whirlwind. Aella the warrior princess. Aella the compassionate. Aella the witch queen. Aella the radiant. Aella the spirited. Aella the fiery. Aella the darkling."

I stared at the picture of Aella as Vitani rattled off Aella's titles.  
Vitani noticed my staring and mumbled "I know, she looks a lot like you. It makes sense I guess, you are related. Thats why I hated you at first, you know. You looked so much like her. . . And not just looks. You're also psycic, just like her. And practically perfect. . . I mean, everyone likes you."

"I can think of a few choice people who don't. . . " I muttered.  
"Well" she said smiling, "Aside from evil bitch princesses."

"Yea . . . So, what happened to her?" I asked.  
"She was kidnapped by the Arthasians. Some treaty negotiations went horribly wrong. . . and Aella was taken as a bargaining token. Well, they left her to rot in the dungeon. . . She eventually went crazy and committed suicide" she paused for a minute, "Or so the story goes."

"So. . . She was supposed to be the heiress to the throne" I asked.  
"Yea. . . Now that I think about it, Austin probably would've been betrothed to her as soon as he was born. That way he'd be prince and linked by marriage to the Azimon royal family"

"It would've been better then Austin being engaged to Aurora" I mumbled.  
"True" Vitani agreed.

I didn't say anything for a little while. I just stared at the picture of Aella. She looked almost identical to the girl in my vision. Only she wasn't hysterical and chained in a basement. I was so confused. . .I was psychic, I had visions of the future. . .not the past. Aella died like four hundred years ago. . .

Vitani interrupted my thinking. "Well, we should probably start getting ready now" she said, getting up.  
"Yea, yea" I mumbled.

I zapped an outfit change. Back into black pants and black shirt. Vitani's outfit was pretty much the same. We both brushed our hair, and teeth, and we're pretty much done. Make-up wasn't really necessary for today. Vitani grabbed her bag, and shoved the book about Aella in. Then, we both went out into the hall. Raziel was out there, leaning against the door next to ours.

"Hey, Raziel" Vitani said "What's the deal with Attis and Kiron"  
"They're both up" he said "They should be out soon"

"Okay cool" Vitani said "Becca, Raziel and I are gonna head downstairs and check out. You wait here for them to come out"  
"Okay" I told her. Then she and Raziel got in the elevator and went downstairs. I leaned against the wall and waited for the guys.

I didn't have to wait that long, Attis and Kiron came out after a few minutes. They were both wearing black clothes, and Attis had the bag slung over one shoulder.  
They both looked better, more rested at least. But Attis still appeared tired . . . and irritable.

"Raziel and Vitani are downstairs checking out" I told them.  
"Okay" Kiron said as we headed into the elevator. We descended the two short floors to the lobby, and got out.

Vitani and Raziel were at the front desk, and they seemed just about done. Soon we were outside, and loading into the minivan again. Raziel drove, while everyone else chilled. Attis fell asleep again, Kiron stared out the window, and Vitani texted. I decided to check on Austin again. This time, he was awake.

_*****_

_If you can call it being awake, that is. He was huddled in the corner of the cage, his eyes closed, and his forehead resting on his knees. He had just woken up a minute ago and was having some trouble fully 'waking up.' He was consciences, but just barely. He felt horrible and sickly. His broken bones felt like they were on fire, and his head throbbed. He was sore all over from bruises and cuts. And dizzy from thirst and blood loss. Slowly, he began to hear voices, and realized he wasn't alone. And it wasn't just Aurora, there was more then one voice. _

_Slowly, he lifted his head, and opened his eyes. Everything was blurry, but he could make out two shapes looming above him.  
He could barely make out the two figures in front of him. But, his eyesight cleared as soon as his hearing did. He could soon peg one of the figures looming above him as Aurora. No real surprise there. She considered him _her_ prisoner. She was wearing a clingy blue gown with her gold hair flowing down her back. Her eyes were currently a light blue, but quickly switched to gold. The other figure was also a woman. She looked around Aurora's age, eighteen or nineteen. She was tall, around Aurora's height, and had a figure that could challenge Aurora's. Her hair was light brown and thick, it reached down to her waist. She wore a floor length, low cut, red silk dress. She had pale skin, devil red lips, and emerald green eyes. Austin pegged her to be a vampire. "Look, he's waking up" the brunette pointed out calmly. Aurora's face lit up and she bent over to better peer at Austin. _

_"__Morning, my darkling" she cooed. Austin growled weakly at her.  
Aurora smirked, "Isnt he adorable?" she asked her friend. T_

_he brunette gazed at him thoughtfully, "Yes" she decided "But, he's a little. . .broken."  
"Yes, well, the warriors and Shadow Slayers I sent to retrieve him weren't exactly gentle" Aurora said lightly "The Slayers gave him the cuts and bruises, along with a possible concussion. The werewolves who brought him in here broke his ribs, but what do you expect from werewolves" _

_Odd, Austin didn't remember having his ribs broken by a bunch of werewolves. Then again, his memory wasn't so great at the moment. He couldn't even quite remember his last conversation with Aurora. Although, he did remember that it upset him. . . _

_"Nothing less" the other girl agreed "But, seriously, he looks half dead."  
"I know" Aurora said, seeming almost glad, "It won't be long now 'till he cracks." _

_The other girl made a half-appreciative, half-contemplative noise.  
Aurora bent over Austin further, putting her hands on her knees. "You can't hold out much longer baby" she purred. _

_Austin growled at her again, but it sounded kind of pathetic because he was so weak.  
"You know" her friend said, with a hand on her hip and a thoughtful expression, "Its not really necessary to keep him in this cage, at this point, there's no way he's going to be capable of escaping."_

_"I know, Venus" Aurora said thoughtfully "But keeping him in here is more insentive for him to agree."  
"Good point" Venus allowed "But when you finally let him out of here it's gonna be a bitch to get him better." _

_"Yea, it probably will" Aurora agreed.  
Then she looked to him, "Afterwards, we're gonna get you all better, isn't that right Aussie-Bear" she said, using baby talk with him once again. _

_Austin managed an unimpressive growl.  
"Does he speak?" Venus asked skeptically. _

_"Usually" Aurora said thoughtfully "Usually he talks a lot."  
"Maybe he's sick" Venus suggested. _

_"Hmmm maybe" Aurora mumbled "Let me see. . . "  
Aurora unlocked the cage door then, and opened it. Austin didn't even try to make a move to escape, he knew if he even stood up he would just fall back down. Aurora stepped into the cage, and knelt down in front of him. She pressed her slender hand to his forehead, and it felt really cold to him. _

_"Oh, he's burning up" she said.  
"He probably picked up a virus. . . I mean, c'mon, how strong can his immune system be after all this." _

_"What should I do?" Aurora asked, running her hand through his bloody hair. Usually, he would have protested, but now he couldn't even bring himself to care let alone say something.  
"I have an idea, I'll be right back" Venus said, and whirled around and disappeared. _

_Aurora stroked Austin's bloody hair, and cooed softly to him, "Are you sick baby? Don't you worry sweetie, we're going to get you all better. . . " Austin despised the patronizing tone and baby talk she was using with him. He growled softly, sounding more like a kitten then a vampire. "Shhhhhhh Aussie" she murmured, pressing a cold finger to his lips. Then she returned to petting his hair, and cooeing soft reassurances to him. He barely heard her though, he was drifting again. He let his eyes close. . . Just for. . . A minute. . . His eyes sprung open when he heard Venus speak, her voice unexpecetintanyl loud. He looked up to see Venus standing in the threshold of the cage, a bottle and a spoon in her hands. _

_"I spoke with the palace doctor. He said there was a virus going around, and he gave me this. Said if this doesn't help at all, then he has something more serious" Venus said.  
"Okay" Aurora said, straightening up and taking the bottle and spoon from Venus. She poured some thick maroon liquid into the spoon. Then she handed the bottle back to Venus and crouched down in front of him, the spoon in her hand. _

_"Open up" she instructed, lifting the spoon to his mouth. He sniffed at the liguid, and made a face at it's unappealing smell.  
"C'mon, open up" she goaded. He recoiled, and shook his head. _

_"Come on baby, it's gonna make you feel all better" she said in a baby voice.  
Aurora placed her finger on his bottom lip, and effortlessly forced his mouth open. _

_Then she shoved the spoon into his mouth. The thick liguid tasted bitter, but he swallowed it anyway. Figuring that he already had to taste it, and he was better off not fighting them. Aurora pulled the spoon out of his mouth, and smiled. _

_She patted him on the head, "Good boy" she chirped. She straightened up then and stepped out of the cage. She closed the door behind h__er, and locked it.  
"Now, you just take another wittle nappy, and when you wake up, you'll feel awll better, Aussie-Baby" she promised, and blew him a kiss. _

_Her and Venus turned to head for the door. He could faintly here their voices from a distance.  
"If he's not any better tomorrow, I'll bring him upstairs and let a doctor take a look at him" Aurora said._

_"Good idea" Venus agreed.  
Austin snarled at their retreating figures, this time it held a little more strength. _

_When the door closed and all the light was gone, he bared his fangs at nobody.  
He was angry, and confused, and sick. _

_And more then anything, he wanted to sink his teeth into somebody's neck. _

_******_I came back to my own head, and shuddered once. I wasn't sure if it was from the jumbled mess that was Austin's mind, or Aurora's treatment of him, or the visual of him attacking someone and sucking their blood. Then again, he wouldn't be bringing down a lot of defenseless people in his current state. Austin was definitely not well off. He was sick, and hurt. And, if we didn't get to him soon, he was only gonna get worse. I sighed, and sunk into the leather seat. A thought came to my mind then.

"Vitani? What's a darkling?" I asked.  
"A darkling?" she repeated "When someone calls someone a darkling their calling them a child of darkness."

"Oh" I mumbled.  
"Why'd you ask?" she wondered.

I shrugged, "You said it earlier, and then Aurora called Austin a darkling when I was in his head a minute ago."  
"Oh. . . So, _that's_ why you were ignoring me . . . " she mumbled.

"Yea" I muttered. "So, what happened?"  
"Not much . . . But I think Austin's sick . . . And so do Aurora and her friend" I told her.

"Whats wrong with him?" she asked curiously.  
I shrugged, "He's just really weak . . . And he didn't say anything to Aurora, even when she was taunting him. Also, his vision was all blurry" I explained.

"Interesting . . . " Vitani mumbled thoughtfully.  
"Yea, and another thing" I said "I think I found the others"

"Really!?" Vitani said, seeming elated.  
"Yea, I had a vision earlier" I elaborated "I saw a bunch of witches locked in a metal room . . . One of them looked like the way Attis described his sister."

"Salacia?" she asked. I shrugged,  
"I guess, I don't know her name," I mumbled.

"Okay, so we can assume there at the palace . . . But we won't know for sure 'till they disarm the wards" Vitani said.  
"And when will they have done that?" I asked.

Vitani shrugged, "I talked to them earlier . . . They said around ten tonight . . . Which is a little after we should arrive in the Capitol . . . We'll just have to chill in the city for a while. Besides, breaking in at night is better."

"I guess" I agreed "Around when should we get there?" I asked.  
"I don't know . . . Hey, Raziel! What do you think?" Vitani called.

I saw Raziel shrug, "At this rate? I'd say about six . . . Seven if we hit traffic" he told us.  
"So, thats only . . . Eleven hours" Vitani said sarcastically.

I groaned, There was no way I could wait that long.  
Everyone knows the waiting is the worst part . . . Especially eleven hours of waiting . . .

I was going to go crazy.


	19. Hero

**_"Preparations" _**

To keep myself from going crazy, I conjured up a portable DVD player. Some people in my position might allow themselves to suffer from boredom, as some kind martyr like move. But, the way I see it, me suffering won't make Austin feel any better. Besides, he wouldn't want me to go crazy for eleven hours. So, I watched movies for most of the ride. The others conjured up IPods and portable DVD players to entertain themselves. Around one o'clock we stopped for some lunch, which was pretty good. That's one great thing about France . . . The food. Afterwards, Kiron replaced Raziel as the driver. Raziel slept then, which made sense. He'd been driving since yesterday. We stopped again around five for dinner. Which was even better then lunch. I offered to drive after that, but Kiron pointed out that I didn't know where it was. So, Kiron stayed as our driver. Since neither Attis or Vitani were too young to drive.

We arrived at the mountain harboring the Arthasian capitol around six. We went into a car entrance, similar to the one at Hades. The Arthasian Capitol, Phaenna, looked similar to the other immortal cities I'd seen, but more like the other Arthasian one. I saw lots of Greek buildings, except instead of white, these were all a light gold. And there were more cars on the roads. On the other side of the city, I could see a huge palace. It was a pale gold color and looked like it belonged in a fairy tale. It had towers with light blue painted tops and a flag flying at the top. I could make out the symbol on it though.

"This is nothing like how I pictured it" I told Vitani as we cruised down the Arthasian streets.  
"I know" she said "When I first came here I expected it to be all doom and gloom."

"Me too. . . " I mumbled. I stared at the Arthasians walking around us, they looked just like the Azimon I had seen. Now, I could distinguish between the species. When I saw people with tattoos, I knew they were witches. Since I doubted the "Dark Keepers" got out a lot. Whenever I saw someone with really dark eyes, they were either werewolf or shapeshifter. Anyone with really pale skin was immediately vamp. Wish Granters were distinguished by there strangely colored hair, red, blue, green, purple, pink. Colors that no normal human could achieve without hair dye. Then the pixies were easy, they all looked like children. Now, mostly all immortals look young. Late teens, twenties, or thirties. But, anyone who appeared in there early teens or younger, and was tiny was probably a pixie. So, I was getting pretty good at identifying immortals. Especially when I knew the person was an immortal of some kind.

"Why don't we hang here 'till the wards are down?" Kiron suggested, parking in front of what appeared to be a coffee shop.  
"Fine by me" Vitani muttered, basically speaking for all of us. Because, although she was not the "charming Aella" that she wished she was, she was still the only person who's opinion mattered in any grouping.

We all got out of the car, and I noticed that Attis and Vitani brought their bags with them. Inside, the coffee shop looked kind of like how I pictured the whole city; dark. Until that day, I had never seen or heard of a gothic coffee shop. But, it was pretty cool. The walls were painted black, with graffiti in purple and red scattered around. It was obviously supposed to be like that. The counters were black with little skull Christmas lights strung around it. The windows had black shades covering them. There were a few black tables with mismatching dark colored chairs scattered around. Against one wall there was a fluffy purple couch with purple pillows on it. The pillows had black roses embroidered on them. Two arm chairs, one red and one black, were clustered with the couch. Each of the arm chairs had a black pillow with skulls on it. A few similar other arm chairs were scattered around. Fake spiderwebs were draped over pieces of furniture. Loud angsty music played, which reminded me of my own tastes. Gothic immortal teenagers sat around. And the baristas matched. One had vampire pale skin, dark eyes accented by raccoon style eyeliner, with her black hair put into two pinkish ponytails. She wore a red and black checkered skirt, torn fishnets, clunky shoes, and a black tank top. She was walking around serving coffee in black cups. The other girl stood behind the counter. She was tall, with a figure that could almost compete with mine. She was wearing a tiny black t-shirt that exposed her pierced belly button. She had tan skin and black hair with pink streaks. She was batting her dark eyelashes at the goth guy she was taking a coffee order from. She licked her devil red lips and then smiled at him. I had to say, with our dark clothes, we fit in pretty well here.

"I gotta hand it to you, Kiron" Vitani said "Nice selection."  
"I had a feeling you'd like it" Kiron said, grinning.

"Yea, seriously" she mumbled absently, looking around, "Its like . . . way cool."  
"Well, I'm getting some coffee" Attis said, walking over to the counter.

"Me too" I said, following behind him. The girl at the counter said something to Attis is a language I had never heard of. It sounded like some kind of weird version of French.  
"What?" Attis demanded.

"Oh, English" she said "What can I get for you."  
"Coffee, two sugars" he told her.

"Okay, and you?" she asked me.  
"Hmm, I'll have coffee, three sugars and whole milk. And . . . A blueberry muffin" I said.

"Okay that'll be . . . 123 debonas" she said. We both stared at her blankly.  
"Or five dollars and twenty two cents" she added.

"Yea, let's go with American currency" Attis muttered, snapping his fingers.  
The money appeared on the counter. I swatted him.

"What?" he asked "I didn't conjure it. It's my money, I just didn't feel like getting it out" he defended himself.  
The barista laughed "Magic makes you lazy" she told him as she put the money in the cash register.

"Thats bull" Attis said "I was born lazy" The barista giggled softly as Attis and I went over to join our friends. They had claimed the purple couch in front of a coffee table. Attis and I plopped down next to Vitani on the edge. A cute gothic werewolf/shapeshifter boy sat in the black arm chair next to us, drinking coffee and reading from a big text book with a dull expression. And an emo looking witch was sitting in the red chair. She had a black tattoo of a crescent moon in the center of her forehead. Little black star tattoos dotted her arms. She was surfing the web on her laptop. I tried to chat casually with the others, but I couldn't. We were so close to Austin and the others. How could I possibly talk about normal things? Which I had to . . . since we were in a crowded coffee shop. The vampire barista delivered my muffin and our coffee after a couple of minutes. I nibbled on my muffin and sipped my coffee. Unlike Attis, who practically chugged it. I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

He shrugged, "Caffeine-addict" he admitted.  
"Ya know what I'm addicted to?" Vitani asked rhetorically.

"Tormenting others?" Attis suggested.  
"Nooo" she said "Chocolate."

"Especially dark chocolate" Kiron added.  
"Yea" Vitani agreed "You know. . . If Athan was here he'd say we have no taste buds . . . He hates dark chocolate."

The mumbling way she said that made her seem depressed, so I changed the subject. "You know what I'm addicted to?" I jumped in "Blueberries."  
"Speaking of which" Attis said "You owe me a buck fifty for the muffin."

I waved a hand dismissevly, "You know your never getting that money" I told him.  
"Well see . . . " he trailed off.

I rolled my eyes, and smiled a bit. I glanced around absently, and saw the vampire waitress slip, sending the coffee cups she was carrying, flying. Vitani automatically pointed her finger at the incident, and the cups with coffee spilling out stopped in mid air.

"Oh, thanks" the waitress breathed as Vitani zapped the coffee cups back into her hands.  
"Welcome" she said.

That was the kind of thing I had to stop myself from doing. In the human world, I had to restrain from using magic like that. Even though, it was like a reflex. Like how you automatically reach out to try and catch something that fell. You don't even think about it. Except, that I had to think about it. If I did that, I'd be dead. Worse then dead, dead and buried.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard the door open. Reflectively, I looked up at the door and felt my jaw drop.  
"Kiron?" I aksed numbly.

"What?" he wondered.  
"Have you ever considered the possibility that you may be psychic?" I asked in a monotone.

"Ugh, no" he said, pointing to his cobra tattoo, "I specalize in animal. . . Why do you ask?"  
"Because look who just walked in" I said pointing at the two people standing in the doorway.

Kate and Domingo. They were dressed in black clothes, similar to ours. Kate had her long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, and was wearing leather fingerless gloves. Domingo had a black backpack slung over one shoulder, and a blank expression on his face. I looked to the others. Raziel had a surprised expression on his face, and Vitani's eyes were round. But Attis and Kiron just had confused expressions. I had forgotten that they didn't know either of them. But, Vitani and Raziel did. Vitani had seen them at the Council on Thursday, and Raziel spent two months in Cold Springs keeping an eye on me, and incidentally the Kardigans since I spend so much time with them. Kate and Domingo scanned the coffee shop 'till their eyes rested on me. I stood up immediately, contemplating going over.

"Becca!" Kate rejoiced running up to me.  
She hugged me tightly, "Finally! We've been trying to catch up with you guys since yesterday!"

"Kate! What are you doing here!?" I asked.  
"We came here to save Austin" she told me.

"I told you we were handling it!" I said, exasperated.  
"We also came to save you" she added. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Oh, you know your glad I'm here" Kate grinned.  
"I know I am" Attis muttered, smirking.

Vitani smacked him, "Do yourself a favor, and ignore him" she told Kate.  
Kate nodded in understanding.

Domingo came over then, "So, Becca, whats the plan?" he asked.  
"Ugh, Vitani?" I asked, since I didn't really know the plan.

"Is this really a good place to discuss it?" Vitani asked warily, glancing around the shop.  
Some of the patrons didn't seem to notice us, and others looked like they were purposely ignoring us. Which probably meant they were eavesdropping and trying to cover it up.

"That's probably a good idea. . ." Domingo agreed. So, we packed it up, and high tailed it out of the Cafe Graveyard.  
"Where should we go?" I asked as we stood on the busy Arthasian streets.

"The cars probably the most private place we're gonna find around here" Attis said.  
"True. . .Kate, what car did you take here?" I asked.

"Well, we took the crossover to your grandmothers house. . .just to find out that you guys were already gone. Then, we took Austin's Maserati -which he left there- and drove it to the airport. Then we took a plane, and then we rented a mustang" Kate explained.

I raised an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged innocently. "We needed something fast to catch up with you guys" she defended her choice.  
"Okay. . .well, a mustang is not very spacious. . .so we should talk in the van" I said.

Everyone seemed okay with this decision, so we all piled in the minivan. We put the back seats down so some of us could just sit back there. We locked all the doors and windows, and Vitani put a sound proofing spell on the car, just in case.

"Okay, so we're all secculded now?" Kate checked.  
"Yep" Vitani chirped "No Arthasian feds are gonna be eavesdroppin' on this illegal operation"

"Good" Kate said.  
"So, what's the plan?" Domingo asked.

"Okay" Vitani said, pulling out a map and spreading it out on the floor of the trunk. Closer inspection showed that it was a map of a castle, the Arthasian castle.  
"Woah" Kate breathed "Where did you get this?"

"I know a guy" Vitani said, smirking and looking at Raziel from the corner of her eye.  
Then she got serious. "Okay, so the most heavily guarded entrances are here, here, here, and here" she said, pointing out the areas as she listed them.

"The Northern Gate, The Southern Gate, The Eastern Entrance, and the Western Entrance" Raziel mumbled absently.  
"Right, and the least gaurded entrances are here, and here" Vitani said, pointing them out.

"The Service Entrance, and the Tunnel Entrance" Raziel muttered.  
"Right. And we're gonna take the Service Entrance. 'Cause the Tunnel Entrance could get messy" Vitani said.

"Okay, but the Service Entrance is going to be guarded too, you know" Kate said.  
"Yea, I know. Which, is why we'll pose as staff" Vitani said.

Kate made an apprecative noise, while Domingo stared at the map skeptically.  
"Alright, so once we're in, we're gonna head up this hallway" Vitani said, tracing the hallway with her finger.

"It'll take us to the kitchen" Attis chimed in, pointing out the kitchen, "And from the kitchen, we'll go down this hall, which will lead us to the entrance to the basement"  
"Which is where there keeping Austin" I added.

"Right" Vitani agreed "And that's really all we got so far. 'Cause once the wards are down, we'll know we're the other kidnapped witches are"  
"And then we'll be able to rescue them too" Attis added.

"Yea . . . and we really didn't plan out how we get out" Vitani began.  
"'Cause we're not expecting to get that far" Attis finished.

Vitani swatted him. _"Because _we're assuming it's gonna be chaos after that and we're gonna have to make it out on luck" Vitani corrected.  
"Neither of those is very reassuring" Kate mumbled.

"It's just facts" Vitani said shrugging.  
"Okay, so when does this go down" Domingo demanded.

"When Auxesia and Thalia call and tell me that the wards are down" Vitani said.  
"And when should that be" Kate prompted.

"Around ten tonight" Attis supplied.  
Kate groaned, "What are we supposed to do until then" she whined.

"I don't know. . . but, first, we gotta take the conealence spell off our tattoos" Vitani said.  
"Uh, why?" I asked.

"'Cause we're stronger when they're exposed" Vitani said with an eye roll. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out the little bag of dust. She went around and poured it over all the witches heads, and Raziel's. As she did, our tattoos reappeared. Vitani did mine last, and I could feel Domingo's and Kate's curious and expectant eyes on me as they waited to see the tattoos. When Vitani finished her spell, Domingo and Kate both gasped simultaneously. I imagined what they were seeing. Me, with the tattoo of a blue eye on my forehead. And blue Chinese dragons dotting my arms. I was pretty sure I had a big Chinese dragon on my back, but I currently didn't have a way of verifying that.

"Woah" Kate said ". . . .Those are so _cool! _They're like so effing pretty, aren't they pretty Dom?"  
"They're very pretty" Domingo agreed.

Kate rolled her eyes at him. "Yea, seriously, those are awesome" Kate said.  
"Thanks" I said.

". . . So. . . .what do we do now?" Vitani asked.  
I shrugged, "I don't know" I said.

"I know! Let's do some shopping!" Kate offered "Phaenna has some of the most amazing clothes ever! Even better then Kleta"  
"_Or" _Vitani said "We could go pick up some medical supplies to take care of the wounded captives, and the wounds we'll probably sustain while trying to rescue them"

Kate pouted, "Really? 'Cause shopping sounds a lot more fun" she said.  
"I think caring for the injured is more important" Vitani said.

Kate huffed, "Fine" she grumbled.  
"We should probably get another car, like another big one. . .you know, that way we have enough room to bring everyone back" Attis said.

"Because we brought enough money to buy a car" I said sarcastically.  
"Who said anything about buying?" Attis asked.

"Your planning to _steal _a car?" I asked incredulously.  
"Yea" he said with a shrug, "I'll go to one of the bad neighborhoods and steal a car. There's tons of crime there, nobody will care"

"Except the owner of said car" Domingo chimed in.  
"I'm missing the part where that's my problem" Attis said.

So, we split up to get our supplies. The guys (Kiron, Attis, Domingo, and Raziel) went out to steal us a van. And the girls (Vitani, Kate, and I) went out to find medical supplies. We went to a bunch of shops that sold first aid stuff. Which, they're seemed to be a lot of. Well, immortals do seem to like to solve things with violence. . . Both Kate and Vitani showed a surprisingly vast amount of knowledge on the subject of emergency medicine. They argued over different disinfectants and the proper way to create a splint. I mostly just stayed out of it, and mutely put the supplies in the cart. Kate payed for some of the stuff, and Vitani payed for some.

When we were done, we loaded all the stuff into the minivan. It was around eight o'clock then.  
"So" Kate said as we finished loading up, "We still got some time to kill. . .maybe we could. . .go shopping?"

Vitani rolled her eyes as she slammed the trunk shut, "We still have more stuff to get. Like, I don't know, blood? You know, for your ill vamp brother?"  
"We don't need to get blood for him" Kate said dismissively "We have a free blood bank right here"

"Hey!" I protested the look she was giving me out of the corner of her eye.  
"What? You _are _his Blood Donor" she said innocently "I'm not insulting you, it's just a fact"

"Yea, yea, we know. But, any minute now, your brother could become _Aurora's _Blood Donor. So, I suggest we pick up the pace" Vitani interjected.  
"Oh fine" Kate huffed.

So, we went shopping through Phaenna. The grocery stores were semi-normalish. Except of course for the isle full of "everyday potions" for witches. . .Yea, that was a little strange. And of course the tabloids that were stacked at the cash registers were about people I had never heard of before. The pictures were of immortals I didn't recognize. Until I scanned over one magazine and saw a picture of Austin on the cover. Austin! My Austin! It was a hot picture, I had to admit. Recent too. It didn't look like a paparazzi shot, it looked planned. The background was just white. He was standing with his arms crossed over his chest casually. His hair was messy, as usual. His bangs fell into his wide silver eyes. He had his trademark smirk plastered on his angels face. He was wearing a blue and white striped polo, with the two buttons undone.

Longing rocked through my body, so powerful that I flet sick. I missed Austin so much, and seeing him like this, happy and safe, made me feel even worse. Knowing that he was actually sick and miserable locked in a basement right now. . .it made me feel like crying.

Numbly, I picked up the magazine and showed it to Kate.  
"I know, it's weird" she said, studying the page, "Seeing someone you know on the cover of magazines. . .It's even worse in the Azimon cities. . .he's everywhere"

"Why" I asked quietly.  
She shrugged, "He's the prince. It's the equivalent of being like a huge movie star or rock star in the human world" she explained.

"Oh" I mumbled "I'm gonna get it"  
Kate shrugged, "If you want"

After we payed, we loaded up the minivan again, and started driving to the Blood Market. As I looked at my magazine, I realized it was in a different language. So, I used a little translator spell to switch it to English. It worked perfectly. Once it was in English, I realized that this particular magazine was definitely designed for teen girls. Even in an immortal city in France, teen girls dominate the media focus. The name of the magazine was _"Immortal Kisses" _written in spikey hot pink letters across the top. I looked at the stories advertised on the cover. One of them read; _"Vampire Bites: Twenty sexiest male vamps of the century!" _Another one read; _"Love Sick: Ten love potions that'll make him find you irresistible! _Another one said: _"Blood Thirsty: Does your blood smell delicious to your vamp boyfriend? Insightful quiz that'll give you real answers!" _Another read; _"Prince Austeralgo: Royal hottie! Find out what makes this blond vampire boy so alluring!" _

I snorted at the stupidity of chic magazines, even immortal ones. But, found myself flipping through the pages to the one about Austin. The article was on one page, and on the opposite page was a bunch of pictures of him. There was one black and white photo of him, it looked pretty recent too. He had on a white button down shirt, with a few buttons undone. He had an intense expression on his face, and it was pretty sexy. There was another picture, that appeared to be Austin at fourteen. He was sitting on the steps of the Council building, supporting his head with his hand, a sulky expression on his face. Then there was one of him when he was a baby. It showed Austin sitting on the floor with a pure white background. He was wearing blue footy pajamas, and looking up with his big silver eyes. He was smiling, revealing perfectly white little teeth. There was an assortment of other pictures. Baby Austin in a baby carriage, current Austin laying on his back across a park bench, current Austin sitting on the beach with his shirt all open (that picture was extremly sexy), one of a current Austin smiling with his fangs extended, and a bunch of others. I, then, turned my attention to the article. It read:

_What is it about Prince Austeralgo that makes us all drool? Well, we've come up with a list of reaosns that may be why we love him so much: _

_1. That whole sulky look he's got going for him  
2. That delicious six pack of his  
3. That little smirk of a smile that works so well for him  
4. Those sexy fangs!  
5. The Blue Fire, all that power makes our blood run cold!  
6. His whole bad boy thing  
7. How he likes to be called Austin  
8. The way he doesn't take crap from anybody  
9. That adorably messy hair  
10. His _hot _status as Vampire Prince _

I snorted at the shallow article, and turned the page. I flipped through the pages, skimming articles on love potions and the latest immortal movies. I came across another article about Austin. It was about his engagement to Princess Aurora. Before even reading it, I huffed and shut it. I stuffed it into the pouch behind the seat in front of me.

I grumbled to myself about how ridiculous that was, for the rest of the ride to the Blood Market. The Blood Market wasn't as bad as it sounded. I expected it to look like a labratory, with refrigerators full of blood. But, it didn't. It looked more like a grocery store. It had the glass fridges that you usually saw in grocery stores too. They were full of blue bottles full of blood. You couldn't see any of the blood, thankfully, because the bottles were all painted. Signs were posted above each fridge. The text was listed in several different languages. French, the weird Arthasian French, and English. They had things written like _"O Negative, Pixie" _and _"B Positive, Human" _and _"A Positive, Vampire." _Apparently, none of the donors were killed in the giving of blood, according to the sign that is. Which, made me feel a little better about this weird place.

"Hmmm" Vitani said "What kind of blood does Austin like?"  
"AB Positive" I told her.

"Human or Witch?" she asked curiously.  
"Ugh, I don't know" I said.

"We'll go with human" she decided, grabbing a blue bottle out of the fridge marked _"AB Positive, Human" _  
"I think I'm gonna get something to drink while we're here" Kate said, grabbing a bottle out of the fridge marked _"B Positive, Wish Granter" _

I gave her a half-confused, half-disgusted look.  
"What?" she asked innocently "They've been saying that Wish Granter blood is good for the immune system"

I made a disturbed face, and shuddered once. It was all so weird to be discussing blood like it's some kind of energy drink. Blech. . .  
We payed for the two bottles of blood and got out of the store. We put the blood for Austin in one of the cup holders, while Kate sipped on her as we drove.

I wrinkled my nose. It was a little weird to see someone drinking blood like it was soda. Then again, I'd seen Austin drink blood all the time. _My _blood, from _my neck. _So, this really shouldn't bother me. Then again, I am pretty stressed today, of course little things are gonna sceeve me out.

Vitani called the guys, and they reported that they stole a big van and were gonna meet us by the gothic coffee shop. We met up with the guys. And they had, in fact, stolen a large black van. They had put down all the seats in the back to make more room too. So, we were all set. And it was around nine o'clock. We killed time in the goth coffee shop, and after about a half an hour, Auxesia and Thalia called.

"Oh, it's them!" Vitani squealed when her phone went off.  
She answered the phone, "Hello? . . . Great! . . . Yep, we're all ready. . . Okay . . . . Yea, we'll be careful . . . I'll call you with an update later. . .'Kay, bye"

She flipped her phone shut, "We're ready" she announced.


	20. Riot

_**Read Please: **Hey sorry this took a little while. . .but it was kind of hard 2 write. . .Anyway, I suggest listening 2 **"Headstrong" by Trapt **while reading this. Because it's the song I listened to repeatidly while writing this. . .so, it'll probably add 2 the affect. I especially suggest listening 2 it during the fight scene. . .Anyway, ummm I'm hopeing 4 some more reviews on this chapter. . .cuz the last few chapters didn't get as many reviews as I usually do. Not that i'm complaining, bcuz any reviews make me happy. . .but yea, **Please Review! **and oh yea, Enjoy! :)_

**_"Exectution"_**

"Finally" I groaned.  
"Come on, let's go" Kate said, seeming uncharacteristically focused.

Our group got up and left the coffee shop. Half of us when into the minivan, and half of us went into the stolen van. I went into the minivan with Kate, Domingo, and Vitani. Domingo got in the drivers seat and started driving towards the palace, with the others hot on our heels. Vitani was sitting in the back with her eyes closed, mumbling to herself. My guess was that she was doing some kind of spell or something. Kate was quiet, staring out the window. It was aggravatingly quiet in here, so I decided to break the silence.

"You know, I'm surprised you guys didn't bring Alex" I said.  
"So is Alex" Kate said.

"He wanted to come?" I asked.  
"Yea, but we . . . wouldn't let him come" she said.

"And how exactly did you do that" I asked cautiously.  
"Hit him over the head with a wooden baseball bat" she said simply "I bet mom and dad flipped when they came home and saw that we were gone and Alex was unconscious. . ."

"May I ask _why _you went through so much trouble to keep him from coming?" I asked.  
She shrugged, "Alex isn't . . . exactly. . .stable. It wouldn't be smart to bring him along."

"What do you mean by unstable?" I asked.  
She shrugged, "It's a psycic thing. . .they tend to be a little unstable when their younger. . .until they learn to control the visions better" she explained.

"Well, _I'm _a young pyscic and I'm not 'unstable'" I said.  
"Yea. . .we don't know why that is. . ." she told me.

"Oh goodie, so there's _more _abnormal things about me" I said sarcastically "Besides being half witch, having some weird Lost Witch powers, and being psychic"  
Kate shrugged, "It could be worse. You could be normal."

"Heaven forbid" I muttered sarcastically.

We were getting closer to the palace, and I could see the symbol on their flag. It was of a black cobra with bright red eyes and it's forked tongue sticking out in a hiss. Real appealing. The rest of the palace's exterior didn't match the creepy flag. It was light, and pleasant. I was eager to see if the inside was just as cheery.

Domingo drove us around the front of the castle, towards the back. He drove into a small tunnel that Vitani directed him towards. She had her eyes closed the entire time, which I didn't understand. We drove through the dark tunnel for a while, 'till we came out into a large concrete area in between a huge wall and the castle. There were delivery trucks and people all over. There was a large door by the castle with men guarding it. They had clipboards and stopped everyone before they went in.

We parked by some of the delivery trucks, and the guys parked next to us. "Now what?" I asked.  
"We're the new guards" Vitani whispered, trance like, "We're a half an hour early, traffic was light. The other two are both sick, they should be better soon."

"How do you know all that?" I asked.  
Vitani opened her eyes slowly and blinked, "An eagle eye spell. It allows you to see things around you that you normally couldn't see. It only works for about a mile though. I used it to look at that guards clipboard. There expecting a group of nine new body guards to arrive a little after ten" she explained.

"Good idea" I said.  
"Thank you, now let's get moving" Vitani said, and we all got out of the minivan, making sure to lock it behind us.

The guys got out of their van, and Vitani whispered the plan to them. They seemed okay with it, so we proceeded towards the gate. There was a short line of workers checking themselves in ahead of us, but they got in quickly. When it was our turn, Raziel and Domingo went in front and the rest of us hung back.

"We're the new bodyguards for Queen Altheda" Domingo said smoothly.  
"Aren't there supposed to be nine of you?" the guard asked skeptically.

"Lysandra and Maron are sick" Domingo said, a calm and casual tone in his voice. Attis suggested that making up names for the missing guards would make it more believable.  
"Mhm, I see. Your early you know" the guard told us.

"Traffic was light" Raziel jumped in casually.  
"Well, alright" the guard said, his eyes scanning over us, "Go on."

Amazingly holding back our snickers and smirks, we proceeded inside. We began walking down the hallway, and after a few minutes, we felt it safe to make noise. Attis, Kate, Vitani and I all snickered quietly. Domingo, Raziel,and Kiron smirked.

"We did it!" I whispered"We actually did it!"  
"I know" Vitani said "I can't believe they bought it!"

"I can't believe they thought _you _were a bodyguard" Attis said.  
She glared at him, "It's obvious I'm a witch, and some of the most powerful witches in history were small."

Attis opened his mouth to speak, but Raziel cut him off. "You guys can argue later" he said "Now we have work to do"  
We all sobered up and got back to business.

We traveled down the hallway into a freakishly huge kitchen. Seriously, it looked like it belonged in a giant restaurant. There were tons of cooks, and stoves, and ovens, and all other appliances. It was insanely busy, which allowed us to slip through and get to the hallway Vitani had been talking about. The hallway was all concrete and very dull. I had a feeling all of the staff areas were like this in this palace.

We followed the long hallway 'till we reached a locked heavy metal door.  
"I got this" Vitani said, placing her hand on the lock and caressing it with her fingers. She mumbled something to herself, and the lock broke into to pieces.

"You'd think they'd magic proof this place or something" I muttered.  
"They did. . .those were the wards. But, with the right kind of spells and days of work, you can disarm. Like the others back home did" Vitani said.

I didn't bother to respond, because there really wasn't anything to say. We pushed open the heavy metal door and revealed a long winding metal staircase. We all proceeded down, sure to be quite and close the door behind us. Inside it was cold, and very dark. When we reached the bottom, I couldn't see anything at all. It was pitch black. Instead of waiting for the other witches to use a cool spell to make it bright, I used an uncomplicated spell I knew from my simple magic knowledge. I summoned light, and spread it all over the room.

The basement (dungeon whatever) was very big. With big metal cages placed all over, and some that appeared to be made of wood and silver. The floors were concrete and so were the walls. Lights hung from the ceiling, but they weren't on.

While glancing around, I got the weirdest feeling. Like I'd _been here before. _Not just seen it, like through Austin's eyes. But physically _been _here. It was like Déjà vu, only much more intense. I didn't just have a vague feeling that I'd been here before, _I knew _that I'd been here before. It was really eerie, but I didn't get much of a chance to think about it. Because everyone began rushing over to a cage on the far side of the dungeon.

I immediately followed after them, and then made a sob like sound when I saw Austin. He was slumped in the corner of the cage, his head resting on his shoulder. He was absolutely drenched with blood. His (used to be) black t-shirt and (used to be) blue jeans were entirely soaked with blood. His hair was matted with blood as well. Lacerations and bruises covered his blood drenched skin. He had scraps all over his cheeks and forehead, and then four deep slash marks running down one cheek. He had a big bruise on his forehead, over his left eye. Blood was smeared on his face and neck, and he had his broken arm held loosely to his chest. Blood pooled on the floor of the cage around him. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing unevenly.

He looked worse then I had ever seen him, ever seen anybody.  
He looked so broken that, if he were human, he would surely be dead.

I looked to Kate, who had an expression of pure rage on her face. Snarling like a wild animal, she began ripping the bars off. The rest of us watched in amazement as she tore apart the front of the cage. Vampire's truly were the strongest of all the species, but unlike us witches, have two major weakness; need of blood, and the vulnerability to wood.

Once the cage door was in ruins, Kate rushed into the cage with me hot on her heals. She knelt down next to Austin.  
"Austin? Austin?" she cried "Austin, are you alright?"

"He's only semi-consciences" I told her quietly "He hears you, but not the words"  
"Can he walk?" she asked me urgently.

"No, no, Domingo pick him up" I ordered. Thanks to the bond, I knew all of that.  
Domingo stepped past to me to get to Austin. He knelt down and scooped Austin into his arms, supporting his weight effortlessly as if he was a child.

"Okay, now we just have to find the others" I said.  
"And get out alive" Attis muttered. Everyone ignored him.

"There this way" Vitani announced, running towards one of the walls, with us following. She felt along the wall, pressing her ear against it. "Their in here!" she told us.  
"How do we get them out?" I asked hopelessly.

Kiron stepped up, "I know what to do" he said. He pulled a knife out of thin air, literally. It was sharp and was practically glowing. He pressed the point of the knife against the wall and traced the outline of a large box. Then he took a step back, and motioned for everyone to back up. Then, the wall inside of the box fell forward, revealing the metal room from my vision. A bunch of young witches were huddled inside. Looking hurt and scared out of their minds.

"Salacia!" Attis shouted, running forward into the room and towards a small blond girl. He dropped to his knees next to her, hugging her tightly and mumbling reassurences to her. If I didn't know better, I would say that it sounded like he was crying. The other witches in the room definetly were. They were all scrambling to their feet, crying in relief. There were about ten of them, and they were all hurt. Though not as bad as Austin, it seemed.

One girl who I sorta remembered from the after party stumbled out and randomly hugged me. I didn't really mind actually.  
"Oh my God" she sobbed "I though we were gonna die down here."

"Nobody's gonna die down here" I promised. _"Nobody else" _a voice whispered in the back of my head.  
"How are we gonna get all these people out of here?" Raziel asked.

"Tunnel" Austin mumbled, his words slurring, "Make a. . a tunnel"  
"Austin?" Domingo asked, looking at Austin intently. His eyes were open, but they closed every few seconds, like he was struggling to keep them open.

He mumbled something uninteligable and his eyes stayed shut.  
"Austin?" Kate asked.

"Don't bother" I told her "He's out."  
She pouted a little, and looked at her twin with worry clear on her face.

"You know, it's a pretty good idea" Vitani said "I mean, we could dig up to the service parking lot and all walk out that way."  
"Yea, and we could create a thunderstorm to clear the parking lot so we can get through" Attis added.

"Alright, so let's do it" Vitani said.

Vitani got to work with creating a tunnel route, with Kiron, Attis, and I to help. We made the tunnel so that it was big enough that you could walk through it. You didn't have to do any actual climbing 'till the end, when you had to go up and out of the hole. We stopped when Vitani told us we were just between the two cars and about to hit the top. We didn't want to break ground 'till we had everyone ready. So, I walked out of the tunnel and back into the dungeon to tell the others we were ready. Just as my feet hit the floor, one of the doors swung open. And Aurora flowed in, flanked by a shit load of guards.

"Now, what's going on down here?" Aurora asked with fake innocence.  
"Enough Aurora" Kate snarled "Just let us go, and nobody has to get hurt."

Aurora laughed, "And let you get away with kidnapping _my_ fiancee? I don't think so" she said.  
"He's not your fiancee" I hissed "And we're not kidnapping him, we're rescuing him"

Aurora's eyes moved to me, "Why hello half-blood" she said "I've been looking for you for a _long _time"  
"I know your the one who sent those assassins after me" I growled "And I know that you want me dead to break the bond"

"Well aren't you a smart little mutt" she congratulated sarcastically.  
"Don't you ever call me that" I snapped.

I was purposely conversing with her to gain time.  
Luckily the others had picked up on that, and were making there way slowly towards the tunnel entrance as I distracted Aurora.

"I find it a pretty accurate description of you" Aurora said lightly.  
"And I find deluded bitch a pretty accurate description of _you" _I retorted.

"Now, bitch I understand" she said "But deluded?"  
"You've twisted every thing so much in that evil little mind of yours that you _actually _believe that Austin will marry you" I said.

"I know he will" she promised, grinning maliciously.  
My eyes flickered behind me at the others, they were all standing right next to the entrance.

"NOW!" I shouted as I threw a ball of fire at Aurora. The other's dashed into the tunnel while Aurora stumbled back into the wall from the blow. "Stop them!" she screeched wildly.  
The guards charged towards the tunnel entrance, where everyone had disappeared into. I threw up my hands and produced a force feild, standing between them and the others. The guards collided with the force feild, and tried to go around it. And when they did, they met head on with Vitani, Kiron, and Raziel. Whom had appeared out of nowhere.

They had all their weapons out too. Kiron had his guns, Raziel had his knives, and Vitani had her whip.  
The fighting was intense as we tried to keep the guards from getting to the tunnel exit.

Raziel was slitting throats like it was going out of style, and Kiron was aiming his guns at anything that moved. Vitani cracked her thorned whip, wrapping it around people's ankles to pull their feet out from under them. I for one, didn't bother with any sort of weapon. I used my magic to fight them off.

Mostly it seemed to be werewolves, vampires and a few Shadow Slayers thrown in.  
So, without any witches, I was able to use my magic as a kick ass weapon.

Somewhere during the fighting, Attis appeared. Done creating the lightning distraction I assumed. In his hands he had his pointed, flaming, bow and arrows.  
With expert skill he aimed it, and shot down enemy after enemy.

I, for one, used magic alone as a deadly weapon. I threw streams fire at anyone who approached me, it wasn't hot enough to kill them immediatly, but hot enough to burn them and send them flying. One werewolf charged me head on, and I slid out of his way. He came at me again, while another werewolf joined the fight so they could double team me. I threw mini flamethrowers of fire at each of them interchangeably, but they just kept coming.

I decided I was going to have to bring a weapon into this fight. I conjured up a silver blade in ten seconds flat. Then, I attempted to use it as a weapon. When the bigger one launched itself at me, I dug my knife into it's shoulder. It let out a high-pitched howl of a scream and crumbled to the ground. I ripped the blade out of it's shoulder, and went on to fight the other one. This one was quicker, and would lunge at me and back off before I could seriously wound it. I would just end up scraping it. Eventually, I got a lucky break and my knife went into it's side. It howled in agony, and dropped. It tried to remove the blade with it's teeth desperately, and I didn't do it's job for it by taking the knife out. If I needed another one, I could just conjure it.

Then, a Shadow Slayer attacked me. A blond girl whom I felt like I knew. She was there everytime I was attacked by these losers. She was wearing her blood red clothes and red, face obscuring, scarf. She came at me with a huge knife, and I jumped back to avoid it. She kept coming at me, and I kept dodging it. Until I got tired of that, and decided to go on the offense.

I kicked my leg up high, and knocked the knife out of her hand. Then I created a small force-feild and pushed back against her. She was shoved back into the wall. I ran up to her, raising fire above my head, ready to finish her off. But, she kicked me in the stomach and knocked me to the floor. She pounced on me while I was down, and pinned me. But, I stronger and was able to roll us over. When _she _was on her back under _me, _I said "Now let's see what you really look like." I was just dieing to see what this annoying little bitch really looked like. But, when I pulled the scarf away from her face, I almost screamed.

It was Lisa! Lisa M! Ditzy, funny, slutty Lisa M! One of Austin's good friends, a mother fuckin' Shadow Slayer!  
"You bitch!" I screamed.

"Go to hell, Satan spawn" she spit at me, sounding nothing like carefree Lisa M.  
Then she kicked me in the stomach, knocking me over and freeing herself. I got to my feet just as quickly as she did. Then we began dueling again.

We were doing old-school fighting. Kicking, and punching. We were both surprisingly good at hand-to-hand combat.  
I thanked God that Tora had forced me to learn hand-to-hand combat.

"How could you!?" I demanded as we fought, "I trusted you! _Austin _trusted you! And you betrayed us! We thought you were our friend!"  
"I would never be friends with an unholy creation like you" she hissed, attempting to kick me in the jaw and missing by an inch, "You're all crimes against the church!"

"What would you know about church?" I snarled "You filthy slut"  
"Child of Satan!" she retorted.

"Fucked up whore!" I hissed back.  
"Eternally damned!" she growled.

Just as I was about to respond, Lisa fell to the floor. I looked down and saw Vitani's whip wrapped around her ankle, and Vitani standing a few feet away. She threw wind at Lisa, and she slid away into the chaos. Vitani ran up to me, elbowing a Shadow Slayer in the stomach on her way.

"I have a plan!" she told me urgently "If we can force them all back into that little room and seel it off, were good to go"  
"And how exactly do we do that?" I asked, punching an approaching vampire in the jaw.

"Improvise" she said, cracking her whip at the oncoming vampire.  
So, while I fought with the enemy, I purposely pushed them back towards the room. And I noticed that the others were doing the same.

After a while, everyone was fighting extremely close together, all squished up near the opening to the metal room. That's when Vitani climbed on top of one of the cages and began shouting some spell in Italian. And then, the remaining enemies were suddenly all shoved back into the small room. Just as it was sealed off by a shimmering force feild. The ones inside desperately tried to break through but to no avail.

"Alright!" Attis cheered, oddly exuberant despite his apparent injuries.  
"Where's Aurora?" I asked, glancing around wildly. I didn't see her anywhere, in or out of the room.

Vitani snorted, "Figures, bitch bails when the real fighting starts" she said.  
"It doesn't matter, we have to get out of here. They'll send more guards when these don't come back" Raziel said.

"Okay, c'mon let's go" Vitani said, and we all ran through the make-shift tunnel exit. We emerged in the empty service parking lot. Empty except for cars. All the people had cleared out. The cause was obvious. Red lightning was flashing through the sky and thunder was cracking wildly. Attis had done good.

Urgently, we all got into the cars. Attis and I got into the minivan, while Kiron, Vitani, and Raziel got in the van. Domingo was inside the minivan, along with Austin, Salacia, and some witches I didn't know. Austin was laying down across the extended trunk, Domingo kneeling over him. Salacia was curled up in one of the seats, nibbling on some food. One witch girl was sharing a seat with another witch girl, they were both eating. A witch guy was passed out in the passenger seat, and Attis was climbing into the driver's seat.

"What are you doing?" I demanded "Your not old enough to drive!"  
"Well, who else is going to? You're not, you and the werewolf are gonna be takin' care of Austin" he explained "I'm the only one here capable"

"We don't have time to argue about it" Domingo interjected "We need to get out of here, _now"  
_"You heard the man" I snapped at Attis "Step on it!"

And he did, he pulled the car out and began speeding the hell out of there. The black van with the others was hot on our heels.  
I immediately climbed into the back with Austin and Domingo. Domingo was washing blood off of Austin's non-broken arm. I wasn't sure if Austin was consciences or not.

"Austin?" I whispered.  
His eyelids fluttered a little, but didn't open.

"He probably won't wake up for a while" Domingo told me.  
I sighed, "I know. . .do you think he'll be okay."

"He should be" Domingo assured me "He seems to have three, possible four, broken ribs. And his arm is _severely_ fractured, and I have no way to know about this supposed concussion right now. But, he's lost a lot of blood, and hasn't had any to drink since. . .when? Friday I'm guessing"

I nodded.  
"Yea, well the main thing I'm worried about is this virus he's seemed to pick up" Domingo continued "I mean, vampires can't die of disease, so don't worry about that. But, it does seem pretty serious."

"Oh lovely" I muttered dryly.  
"Oh fuck, we've got a follower" Attis announced.

I sat up more to peer out the tinted back window, and saw several black vans speeding towards us from down the road.  
"Oh shit" I muttered.

"Speed up!" Domingo commanded.  
"Really? 'Cause I was planning on going slowly and letting them catch us" Attis said sarcastically, really stepping on the petal. The van lurched foward.

"There's no way we're gonna be able to get out of the city" I said, panicking.  
"We'll see about that" Attis said, speeding up even more. I looked out the window again and saw the minivan barely a foot behind us, with the enemy vans trailing back.

"We're gonna die" one of the witch girls announced in a dead voice.  
"We're not gonna die" snapped Salacia, a surprisingly large amount of power behind her words despite the injury and fatigue.

"Yes we are" sobbed another witch girl.  
"No, we're not" Salacia hissed venomously, even when injured, she was still capable of being aggressive. Must run in the family.

"Knock it off, both of you. We have to-" Attis stopped short.  
"What is it?" I demanded.

"Holy fuck!" he shouted.  
Urgently, I scrambled to the front of the van, peering in between the two seats.

The weirdest thing was in the middle of the road, hard to describe. It was kind of like a thick purple cloud, only spinning inward. Kind of like a vortex.  
Staring at it made me dizzy, and scared.

"What _is _that" I asked, my voice full of awe and fear.  
"I don't know!" Attis shouted.

It was getting closer to us, even though Attis had involuntarily slowed down.  
It floated forward, fast, and ingulfed the car.

Everyone screamed as we were pulled into black nothingness.


	21. Better Then Drugs

_**Sorry it's taken me so long 2 update! I've just been really busy. Anyway, this chapter is TOTAL FLUFF! keep that in mind, n oh yea, please review! :)**_

* * *

**"Reunions"**

When I opened my eyes, I was in my room at my Grandmother's house. And half of my mind thought the past few days horrible events were a bad dream, and the other half thought _this _was a dream. And then I took notice of the scraps, bruises, and bandages on my arms, and realized that everything was real. The party, the invasion, the kidnappings, the rescue, the battle, the worm hole, this room, all of it was real.

Immediately, I sprung up out of bed. Which is when I noticed I was wearing my favorite sweatpants, my brown t-shirt, and my grey sweatshirt left open. Well, I wasn't going to think about how I switched outfits. Instead, I darted out of the room into the hallway, which was empty. I ran towards the staircase and ran upstairs to the infirmary. It was like a hospital up there. There were people walking around, talking. Nurses rushing around, patients hobbling out of rooms on crutches. Just like a hospital. . .only everyone was immortal and we were inside a mansion. . .

Which reminded me, how the hell did we get back to the mansion!?

I spotted Vitani, heading towards a room I was sure was Athan's. I ran up to her and grabbed her tiny wrist.  
"Oh, good, you're awake now" she said, looking up at me.

"What happened?" I demanded "How are we back here?"  
"Oh, you know that whole vortex thing? Yea, that was my mom teleporting us back here. I told you only a really powerful witch could do it" she said.

"Oh, so. . .we really did it? We really saved them?" I asked, excitement growing inside me.  
"Yep" she said "Now, please let go of my wrist. You're cutting off my circulation"

I realized my grip was really tight around her wrist, and let go.  
"Sorry" I apologized.

"It's okay" she said.  
"So, have you heard anything about Austin?" I checked.

"Just that he woke up some time last night, and then had some kind of melt down" Vitani said, shrugging, "But that's all I know"  
"I came here for reassurance and now I'm even _more_ freaked out" I told her.

"Sorry" she said, shrugging, "Now if you'll excuse me. I have to go talk to Athan, now that's he up"  
"Oh, good luck" I said. She smiled and went into his room.

I went over to the desk at the front, which made it seem even more like a hospital.  
"Excuse me. I'm looking for my boyfriend, Austin" I said, assuming that should be enough information for her to find him.

"Oh, his room is right down that hall" she told me "Last door"  
"Thank you" I said, and then darted away towards the hallway she pointed out. There were lines of doors on each side, and I could hear voices on the other sides of them. There was only one person in the hallway, and she was coming out of the last room, Austin's. It was a witch nurse.

I stopped her, "Hi, I'm Austin's girlfriend. How's he doing?" I asked frantically.  
She made a slight face, "Well, he's got a broken arm and three broken ribs. And some serious blood loss, but we've been giving him blood constantly, so that shouldn't be an issue much longer. Our main concern is this virus he's picked up"

"What symptoms does he have" I asked worriedly.  
"Coughing, fever, fatigue, and some amount of disorientation and confusion" she listed.

"Oh lovely" I muttered.  
"It really isn't that a bad" she promised "It just concerns us because he has so much else to deal with"

"Mhm. Now, Vitani said something about Austin waking up and having some kind of melt down?" I said, turning the statement into a question.  
"Oh. . .yes" she said somberly "That wasn't pleasant at all"

"What happened?" I demanded.  
"Oh, sometime late last night, while we were still tending to him, Austeralgo woke up. Which was good news, at first. But, then he started ranting about how Princess Aurora was trying to kill _you_, and that we had to do something. We tried to tell him that you were here and that you were safe, but he was inconsolable" she said, putting a hand over her heart.

"Is he better now?" I asked.  
"Well, he's only been awake for a few minutes, he does seem better though. I was just going to tell your grandmother that he was up" she told me.

"Oh, well, if it's alright I'm going to go check on him" I said.  
"That's fine . . . I'll be back in a little while to give him his medication, and your grandmother will probably want to check on him as well" she told me.

"Oh okay" I said, slipping past her and into Austin's room. He looked a thousand times better then he did last time I saw him. For one, he was no longer soaked in blood. And neither was his hair, it was now soft and clean. One arm was in a cast, and bandages dotted all over both arms. The only visible cuts was the slash mark on his cheek, and the one on his forehead. Most of his bruises were visible too. He was sitting up in bed, and he looked elated to see me.

"Austin" I breathed, crossing the room and kneeling down at his bedside. "I've been worried sick about you" I told him, reaching out and grabbing his hand.  
He didn't respond, but just stared down at our two hands.

"You shouldn't have come after me" he said finally "You could've been killed."  
"Oh hell no" I said "Do not tell me you're angry that I risked my life to save you. I don't want to hear it." '

"Well your going to anyway" he snapped "You shouldn't of done that, you could've been killed-"  
"She would've killed you!" I protested.

"No she wouldn't have" he mumbled.  
"Maybe not intentionally. But you were half dead down there" I told him.

"I was fine" he muttered, but there wasn't any conviction behind the words.  
"Ya, right" I scoffed "Were you fine when she snapped your arm? Were you fine when you were so sick you couldn't even talk?"

"Aurora didn't break my arm" he said, seeming confused.  
"What are you talking about?" I demanded "Of course she did. I saw it."

"Well, I don't remember that" he said.  
"Wait, your saying that you don't _remember _her snapping your arm?" I demanded.

"No" he said, a crease forming between his eyes, "I don't even remember you rescuing me, your grandmother told me you did."  
"Is that why you flipped out last night?" I asked.

He sucked in air through his teeth, "Oh, so you heard about that?"  
"Yea" I said "What happened?"

"I thought" he explained "I thought that I was in the Arthasian palace when I woke up. Because I didn't recognize anybody . . . And I didn't remember you guys breaking me out."  
"Oh, that must've been horrible" I sympathized.

"Yea, it wasn't fun" he mumbled.  
"When did you realize you were here?" I asked.

"When your grandmother came in" he told me.  
"Oh, that makes sense 'cause-" I broke off when he suddenly hissed and pressed his fingers to temple, his face scrunched up in pain.

"Oh God, what's wrong" I asked frantically, panicking.  
"My head-it's nothing, I'm fine" he mumbled.

I groaned, "I wish you'd stop saying that" I told him.  
"Saying what?" he asked.

"That you're fine" I explained "You're not fine, you're hurt and sick and you need to except it."  
He made a contemplative face, "Nope, I think I'd rather be in denial" he decided.

I laughed and shook my head, "Your impossible" I told him.  
"Like your any better" he said.

"True" I allowed.  
He was silent for a moment. "Do you know what I thought about the entire time I was in that cage?" he asked randomly.

"Violent things you'd like to do to Aurora?" I guessed.  
He laughed, "No. . .well, sometimes. But, mostly I thought about you. About how much I missed you, and how worried I was that they'd find you" he told me.

"Leave it to you to worry about me while your dieing in a basement" I muttered.  
"And leave it to you to risk your life and travel all the way to France just to save me" he retorted.

I laughed. "Do you know what I've been dieing to do these past few days?" I asked randomly.  
"Stab Aurora?" he suggested.

"Well, besides that" I said.  
He shrugged, "I don't know. What?" he asked.

"This" I said, leaning over and gently kissing him on the lips. The kiss lasted a few minutes, and I eventually ended up lieing next to him on the bed. His none-broken arm wrapped around me, pulling me closer. And my arms wrapped around him, cautious of his broken ribs. After what I assumed was five minutes, we broke apart.

"I've been wanting to do that too" he told me.  
I smiled, and snuggled next to him.

"Before you get comfortable" he said "Can I ask you to do something for me?"  
"Sure, what is it?" I said instead of my immediate thought of _"Anything" _which I felt was too sappy.

"Can you go get that bag over there" he asked me, nodding at a black gift bag next to the door.  
"Okayyyyy" I said, drawing out the word like a question. I couldn't imagine what that bag was for.

I got up and went over to the door. I picked up the bag and walked over to sit back down on the bed. I reached out to hand him the bag, but he shook his head.  
"Open it" he told me.

"Okay" I said, still confused. I opened up the bag, and removed the white sparkly tissue paper. Beneath it all was an item, that I couldn't immediatly place. I lifted it out of the box, to see that it was a satin chocker. It was a silky gray satin chocker with a pendent in the center. It was of a red crescent moon.

"Oh, it's so pretty" I said, it was exactly my kind of taste. Dark and elegant.  
"It's the Karodarus family crest" he told me "Karodarus means bloody night."

Oh, well, wow. That's interesting.  
"Wow. . .but, why? I mean, what's it for-" he cut me off.

"Happy Birthday"

* * *

_***Vitani's POV***_

I took a deep breath before entering Athan's room. I stepped inside, to find him sitting up in bed, watching TV. He looked pretty much the same, bandaged and bruised. Except this time, his pretty blue eyes were open. Those eyes looked up at me when I entered, and he smiled.

"Vitani" he said happily "They told me about that suicide mission you went on, I was so worried about you."  
"I was worried about you too" I said, sitting down in the chair next to the bed, "I was worried that you'd never wake up."

"You always assume the worst, Vitani" he told me.  
"Well, I already lost you once that day" I said "I didn't want to lose you again"

"What'd you mean?" he said, tilting his head to the side questioningly.  
"After the battle, I found you unconscious. . .and I thought you were dead-I mean, you looked dead" I told him.

"Wow, I'm sorry. . .that sucks" he said.  
"Yea it did. I cried so much" I told him "I thought I would never stop."

He smiled, trying to lighten the mood, "Nah, I think you would've of eventually" he joked.  
"No, your wrong. I wouldn't because I love you" I told him.

He smiled, "Course you do. We're best friends" he said.  
"Yea well, that's not what I meant. I don't just love you, I _love_ you" I tried to explain.

"I don't think I follow" he said slowly, a crease forming between his eyes.  
"Let me break it down for you then" I said "I. _Love. _You."

Still looking confused, he said "Yea I got that, but why the emphasis on 'love?'"  
I groaned, "Oh God, do I have to explain _everything _to you, stupid? I put an emphasis on love because I'm _in_ love with you, as in the romantic sense of the word"

"Oh" was all he said. Neither of us spoke for a minute.  
Finally, I said "So, I'm guessing this is the part where you tell me that you don't return my feelings and pretty much destroy me?" I asked fearfully.

"No" he said "This is the part where I tell you I'm in love with you too."


	22. Diary of Jane

_Now that's more like it. I can say that i'm generally pleased with the amount of reviews. Now, lets c if we can get even more 4 this chapter :) Anyway, this chapter is back to **Becca's POV**. So, keep that in mind. Also, it takes place directly after Becca's POV ended in the last chapter. _

* * *

_**"Surprise"**_

"Wait, it's my birthday?" I asked, shocked.  
"It's January first, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically, seeming pleased.

"Wow. . .I, I didn't even realize" I mumbled.  
"Well, I did" he said smugly "Aren't I the best boyfriend ever? Even after getting abducted by a crazy bitch, I _still_ remembered your birthday."

"That's a good point. . ._How_ the hell did you remember that" I asked "You don't even remember yesterday!"  
He glowered at me, "I do to remember yesterday" he told me.

"Oh please" I scoffed "You didn't even remember someone _breaking your arm."  
_"Whatever. And for your information, it's not hard to remember that your girlfriend's birthday is January first" he told me.

"Well, how did you know what day it was" I questioned him further.  
"Because I asked the nurse!" he retorted, exasperated.

"And when did you get my present?" I continued.  
"I brought it with me when I came here on Friday" he told me, rolling his eyes, "Now, are you finished with the Spanish Inquisition Queen Isabelle?"

I sighed, "Yes, I'm done. I just find it unbelievable that you remembered my birthday when I didn't" I told him.  
"I don't . . . you have a bad memory" he informed me.

"Oh shut up" I told him, and then I thought of something, "Hey, I have a present for you too."  
"What for?" he asked, seeming confused.

"Oh, just something I picked up in Arthasia that I thought you might be interested in seeing" I said mischievously.  
"Uh okay, what is it?" he asked.

I snapped my fingers, and the magazine appeared in my other hand.  
"Take a look" I told him, handing him the magazine. He took one look at it and groaned.

"This is why I don't want you coming to Hades" he moaned "Because crap like_ this _is all over the place."  
"It's not crap. All those pictures of you are really sexy" I told him "I'm just curious as to when you _took _these pictures."

"I have to do shit like that all the time" he grumbled "The Council makes always me do stupid publicity shit. Like going to photo shoots, interviews, charity events. . .it sucks."  
"How come I never knew about any of this?" I demanded.

"Because you clearly don't go into my head _every _time I go to Hades" he concluded.  
"I don't" I admitted "Only when you seem stressed about going."

"And I'm only stressed before going to meetings" he said "The other stuff doesn't stress me out, it just bores me."  
"Really?" I asked "'Cause I would think that being on magazine covers and stuff would be cool."

"Only in theory" he said "In reality, it's annoying and embarrassing."  
"Well, it's not like I'll ever be famous. So, I don't have to worry about that" I mumbled absently.

"Actually, you will. 'Cause once the media finds out your the Lost Witch. You're gonna have to go through the same shit as I do" he said smugly, although I could tell he wasn't exactly pleased by this.

"Wait-like go to Council meetings and stuff?" I demanded.  
"Well, the Council meeting stuff will probably happen before the media gets a hold of this" he contemplated "But yea."

I was about to complain/protest when the door flew open. Vitani was standing in the doorway, looking manically excited. For whatever reason, I didn't notice her outfit earlier. But I now saw that she wore a dark red dress with a tutu like skirt, reaching to her knees. Her hair was carelessly messy as usual, but her purple eyes were wide with excitement.

She closed the door behind her and ran over to us, like a spinning red tornado. She put both hands on the foot of the bed and leaned over.  
"Oh my God, Becca guess what!" she said, sounding so hyper and excited that I barely recognized the tone on her. I was used to her being either angry, snarky, or nonchalant.

"What?" I asked, confused.  
"Athan told me that he loves me! Can you believe it!? And he kissed me too!" she said excitedly.

"Oh, that's great!" I gushed, truly happy that it was working out for them.  
"Yea, I totally had to tell you first. 'Cause neither Tansy or Kalika even _know_I'm in love with him! They are soooooo gonna flip 'cause-" Austin caught her off.

"Ugh" he groaned "Will you turn off the ditzy teeny-bopper babbling already? Your giving me a massive migraine"  
Vitani glowered at him, "I wouldn't talk if I were you" she told him "I saved your sorry ass. If it wasn't for me, you'd be giving blood to Aurora right now."

"She has a point" I admitted.  
"A point about what?" Austin asked, looking confused.

"About her saving you" I said slowly, eyeing him cautiously.  
"Oh right" he mumbled, rubbing his forehead, "Yea. . ."

"You okay?" I asked as a crease formed between his eyes.  
"Yea, yea, I'm . . . I'm fine" he muttered distantly.

"You sure?" I asked.  
"Yea" he muttered, just as a wet awful sounding series of coughs took over him. I stood up reflectively.

"Austin!?" I asked, panicking.  
He held up a hand, signalling for me to wait a minute. As the coughing slowed he answered, "I'm . . . fine"

"For the love of God stop saying that. You're not fine!" I protested unnecessarily loud.  
"Uh, I'm gonna go get a nurse" Vitani said, giving herself a chance to leave.

"Honestly Austin" I said once she was gone "You have some _serious _issues with being sick."  
"In case you haven't noticed, I have a lot of issues in general" he told me.

"Yea, I did" I mumbled, just as Vitani came back with the same nurse from before, a maroon vile in her hand.  
"Sorry it took me so long" the nurse apologized "I tried to get a hold of Prima but she was very tyed up at the moment."

"It's fine" I said before anybody else had a chance to speak.  
She smiled in thanks, and approached Austin's bedside. I moved out of her way.

She busied herself by taking his blood pressure, and his temperature. I didn't catch what his blood pressure was, but I did hear her say his temperature was 105. Which, would've freaked me out had I not known that vampires usually ran a temperature of about 101 anyway, despite the fact that humans think their unnaturally cold.

"Okay, everything seems alright" she decided, handing him the glass of dark red liquid, "Drink this."  
"Let me guess, pixie blood" he assumed.

"Pixie blood?" I repeated.  
"Pixie blood has healing qualities" the nurse informed me.

Austin drank some, made a slight face, and then said "Yea, and it's sickening sweet. Not to mention, it has . . . unpleasant side effects."  
"What do you mean by 'unpleasant side effects?'" I asked, narrowing my eyes in suspicion.

He shrugged, "It just kinda messes with your head" he explained, taking another sip.  
"Which is why we should leave Austeralgo to rest for now" the nurse said lightly.

"Okay" I conceeded, and then went over to kiss Austin on his warm forehead.  
"You better sleep" I warned him.

He rolled his eyes at me as we all left his room to allow him to sleep more.  
Once we were in the hallway, the nurse disappeared into the closest room.

"You know what I need to do right now?" Vitani asked rhetorically "Watch mindless television."  
"God, that would be great" I sighed dreamily. Vegging out sounded_ amazing _right now.

"C'mon then, the rec room's on the first floor" she told me. I wasn't even surprised that they had one.  
"Cool" I said, following her down two flights of stairs. Just as we reached the foot of the grand staircase, the doorbell rang.

"Well, who could that be" she mumbled to herself, dancing over to the front door to answer it.  
She unlocked it and opened it, although I couldn't see who it was because she was standing in the way.

"What in the name of Maia are _you_ doing here"


	23. Rebirthing

**"Visitors"**

"What, who is it?" I demanded, squirming by Vitani to see into the doorway she was partially jaw dropped when I saw several Council members standing in the doorway. King Zephorous stood in the front, wearing his trademark suit. He was flanked on either side by Analisa and Lupo, the vampire representation and werewolf representation. Parked at the curb was a long sleek black limo. Flushed out behind them was Aurai, the pixie, Ladon, the shapeshifter, Hamied, the wish granter, Fawn, the human, and Cybele, the witch. Others beside the Council members were present too. Dr. Nicodemus and Dr. Nova were also present. Dr. Nicodemus was the most respected scientist in the Azimon, but looked about nineteen. Dr. Nova was a pretty professor at the University of Hades. There was also General Odysseus and then some teenage girl I didn't remember.

She looked around Kate's height, slightly taller then Vitani, but shorter then me. She was thin, with tan skin, and pretty. She had a thin pretty face with a halo of black bobbed hair. Unlike the other young-looking Council members, this girl actually was young. Somehow, I just knew. She had an energy that radiated out of her that seemed young and carefree. She wore a long black peasant skirt and a black sweater over a white collared shirt. She had dark purple and dark green beads dangling loosely around her neck. She had a sulky expression and had her thin arms crossed over her chest.

"The Council" Vitani snarled angrily.  
"Yes, and if you don't mind, may I ask who you are little girl" King Zephorous asked kindly.

Vitani smirked venomously, "You don't remember me?" she hissed "I'm hurt."  
"I'm afraid I don't" King Zephorous said, frowning slightly.

"Maybe this'll jog your memory" Vitani growled, grabbing a black sweatshirt off the coat hanger next to the wall. She shrugged it on and then flipped the hood on over her head. She pulled it down to cover her eyes.

"Hello" she said in a suddenly apathetic voice "I'm here representing the Prima Strega."  
Recognition dawned on all their faces.

"I didn't recognize you without one of your cloaks" King Zephorous said, smiling bemused.  
Vitani didn't see the humor, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave now" she said in the same monotone.

"We'd just like to have a chat with Prima" the King said lightly.  
"She's not here" Vitani lied in a dead voice.

"Now, don't lie to us little girl" the King said in a controlled voice "We have very competent sources that say she lives here."  
"My mother doesn't want to speak to you" Vitani said blankly.

"Your _what?" _King Zephorous demanded, his expression blankly shocked. The expression was mirrored by all the other members present, aside from the sulky teen.  
"Oh damn" Vitani muttered, realizing her mistake.

"Excuse me, but did you just say the Prima Strega is your _mother" _The king demanded in a highly controlled voice.  
Vitani held her head up high, "Yes" she said confidently "I did. She's my mother."

King Zephorous looked like someone had slapped him across the face. But he quickly covered it up with a expression of professional curiosity.  
"Interesting" he said politely "Now, if you don't mind me asking, who is your father?"

Vitani snorted, "Like I know" she muttered dryly.  
This seemed to upset King Zephorous even more.

"Yes, now I'm going to have to ask you to leave now" Vitani repeated.  
"This is official Council buisness little girl" King Zephorous said tersely.

"My name isn't little girl" Vitani snapped, losing her apathy, "It's Vitani"  
"Vitani?" King Zephorous repeated in a strained voice.

"Yes, Vitani" she snapped "Would you like the country of origin?"  
"Just take us to see Prima" King Zephorous demanded tightly.

"I don't think I should do that" Vitani said, just as Prima stepped into the room. She looked just as beautiful and ageless as always. Her curly dark hair was pulled back into a high bun with one curly ringlet falling into her face. Her gorgeous face was serene, except for the surprised 'O' shape of her plump lips. Her purple eyes were mostly clam, but with a little turmoil stirring behind them. She wore a long, clingy, royal blue dress.

"No, let them in Vitani" she said. Vitani's head swivelled around to look at her mother, and the rest of our 'guests' eyes looked up. They all looked entranced by the radiant beauty of their former witch Queen. Whom they supposedly hadn't seen in four hundred years.

"Have them meet me in the second parlor, alright darling" Prima said primly, gliding into an unknown door.  
"Fine" Vitani grumbled, opening the door wider.

The group walked in, with Vitani glowering at them the whole time. Vitani shrugged off the black sweatshirt and hung it on the coat rack. I noticed some of them staring at me.  
"Right this way" Vitani grumbled enduringly, leading the way to what I assumed was the second parlor. I stood right by her side, refusing to look over my shoulder at them.

Vitani pushed open the door, making a mocking sweeping gesture to the second parlor. Apparently the second parlor was much larger then the first one. But similar in design. Prima was sitting in a relaxed position on the couch, she had her legs crossed and her hands placed calmly in her lap. Sitting next to her were all of Prima's advisors. Harmony, and other one's I didn't know.

"Please, sit" Prima said politely.  
Our 'visitors' spaced out around the parlor. The Council members claimed all the seats, while the Doctors, General, and teenage girl all leaned along the walls, along with Vitani and I.

"Zephorous" Prima acknowledged him curtly "It's nice to see you."  
"Likewise" Zephorous said in a tight voice, "You look good Prima."

Wow, this must be awkward.

"Thank you. Now, may I ask why you are here" Prima asked politely.  
"We are here because we have heard rumors that you were residing here, and that you had successfully rescued Prince Austeralgo" he said.

"Who told you" Vitani growled.  
"Control, Vitani" Prima chided lightly.

Vitani huffed unhappily, and the sulky teenage girl shot her a sympathetic smile.  
Vitani barely seemed to notice.

"Our dear friend Alala told us" King Zephorous, gesturing to the sulky girl.  
"They threatened me" she told us in response to Vitani's accusatory glare, "It was purely self defense."

"And how did _you _know" Vitani hissed at Alala.  
Alala sighed, "Because I used to live next door to the Karodarus" she began "When they lived in Hades that is. My parents still live there. I used to babysit Hekate and Austeralgo when they were little, when I was about thirteen, whenever their parents were out. Sure, the bodyguards and maids and cooks were always there, but I used to play with them, keep them entertained. Well, one night, I think I was fourteen, I overheard Hera talking to Vulcan. It was a week or so before they fled from Hades, I believe. Hera and Vulcan had just gotten home from some charity dinner. I had just put the twins to sleep, when I heard them talking outside the nursery. I don't think they even realized I was inside. I only got chunks of their conversation, something about contacting you, Prima. They wanted to consult you about Alexanderon's visions. Somewhere in the conversation Hera mentioned that you were the Regina of the Black Rose Coven in Neromagia. I never told anyone, well until the Council showed up."

"How did you know that she knew where we were" Vitani demanded of the king.  
"We knew that Hera was good friends with you, Prima" the king explained calmly "We consulted all of her good friends and neighbors to see if she ever hinted at where you were to anyone."

"And how did you know that Austin was here" Vitani demanded, while her mother stayed quiet for a moment.  
"While monitoring the teleportation into America, Cybele noticed a large group of people were being telported from France to here" Zephorous said.

"Well, now that we all know how you found us. May I ask why you seeked us out" Prima asked primly.  
"We wish to see Austeralgo. We have some questions for him" the king told her.

I decided to finally say something, after an extremely long time of silence, well to me it was extremely long.  
"Austin doesn't want to see you" I spoke up.

Every head turned to look at me.  
"And that's the other reason we're here" the king said "To see the Lost Witch, and to find out why her existence is possible."

"I told you she would be born, thousands of years ago. Have you already forgotten Zephorous?" Prima asked.  
The king asked, "No, I have not forgotten" he hissed, loosing his composure.

"Then what is it that you don't understand" Prima asked politely.  
King Zephorous' head whipped around to look at me, his eyes trained on the locket around my neck.

"It was _burned"_Zephorous growled "I saw the locket burn."  
"No, you saw _a_locket burn" Prima corrected "You didn't honestly believe I would allow you to burn the actual locket, did you?"

The king look flustered, and everyone else looked baffled. Even Alala looked shocked, but it was the kind of shock someone had while reading an unpredictable book. The kind of shock where the person finds the surprise kind of amusing.

"You. Gave. Us. A. Fake!?" Zephorous demanded.  
"Yes" Prima said, unfazed.

"How could you-How could you lie to the Council!? To the entire Azimon!" he exclaimed.  
Prima smiled an unsettling smile, almost threatening, "I think you're forgetting that I am the_ first _witch, the most powerful. And I believe I know what's best for the Azimon" she said in a dangerous whisper.

The king looked flustered for a moment, but regained his composure quickly.  
"If you know what's best for the Azimon then you should of stayed on the Council" he said tersely.

"I wouldn't stay on that wretched Council another second after they allowed my daughter to be killed" Prima said with more heat and anger then she'd ever expressed before.  
"We did everything we could to save Aella!" the king protested.

Just as he said that, pain exploded inside my skull, and everything went black.


	24. Thanks For The Memories

_**"Another Life"**_

_The blackness only lasted a minute, and then a lifetime worth of memories filled my head. Only, it wasn't my lifetime. And somehow I knew it was Aella's, and I was seeing all her memories through her eyes. Everything was moving like it was on fast forward, but somehow I still managed to catalog everything. Somethings stood out more then others, memories that were important to Aella._

_A four year old Aella playing in the spacious backyard of her home in Hades. Running through the grass, wearing a white frock and no shoes. Her curly brown hair left down. She was playing with her Daddy, running from him, and giggling. She looked over her shoulder at him. He was wearing grey trousers and a white shirt, his gold hair was chin length and there was a smile on his handsome face. Aella was running as fast as her little legs could carry her, but her Daddy caught her. He scooped her up into his arms, as she giggled and squirmed. She looked up to the patio, where her Mommy was sitting and drinking tea with her new friend, Hera. Her Mommy was beautiful, with her long brown curls piled onto a crown on top of her head, and her billowing white gown. Her Mommy's freind was pretty too. With blond hair pulled back into a bun and an elegant green gown. Mommy smiled at Aella and her Daddy. _

_A six year old Aella in her bedroom, playing with her china dolls. She had them seated around a little table, and was serving them pretend tea with her new tea set. She had dressed her dolls in all their fanciest dresses, and she herself was dressed in one of her nicest outfits too. A frilly pink dress and a white bonnet with a satin pink bow. She had even put on her stockings and shoes. As she poured fake tea into the little tea cup, she heard noise downstairs. Curiously, she followed the sound out of her room and down the stairs. She drifted through the dining room into the parlor. Where she found Mommy dancing to the music of Daddy's piano. Intrigued, Aella stepped into the parlor and attempted to move her feat to the music. Her parents smiled lovingly at her childish dancing. _

_A seven year old Aella peering down at the dining room from the top of the staircase, wearing a white night gown and a white bonnet. Mommy had told her she had to go to sleep because they had important grown up stuff to do, but Aella just couldn't stay away. She could see perfectly into the dining room from her spot, but it would be hard for anyone else to see her. Mommy and Daddy were sitting at the table, drinking tea with people she didn't recognize. Two regal blondes, a man and a woman. On the floor next to them sat a pretty little blond girl with calm eyes, idly playing with the china doll in her hands. Leaning against the wall with a surly expression was a cute blond boy who looked a few years older then Aella. His light blue eyes flickered up to Aella, where she stood frozen. His eyes changed color to gold right before he looked away. Frightened of getting caught, Aella silently scampered back up to bed. _

_A ten year old Aella riding in the family's carriage up to their summer house in the mortal world. The second the buggy came to a stop, Aella bounded out, nearly tripping over her petticoats in her haste. She stared up in wonder at their beautiful summer house that her mother had named "Strega Manor." It was secluded from the rest of the world, mortal and immortal. It had a backyard even more spacious then the one back home, and a stable. That way Aella could ride horses. Without waiting for her parents, Aella bounded up the pathway and knocked on the front door. Their butler, Deacon, who had arrived yesterday to clean up the place for their arrival, answered. Aella grinned a greeting at him, and ran up the grand staircase. She passed by her mother's study, the aviary, the mediation room, some guest rooms, and the weapons room without a single glance at them. She headed straight for her bedroom at the end of the hall. She loved it so much more then her bed chamber back home. This one was stocked with china dolls, fancy dresses, and all sorts of stuff a ten year old girl would like. _

_A twelve year old Aella, drinking tea in the parlor with Mommy and her friend Hera. But since Hera was a vampire, she was actually drinking blood from the teacup. Aella herself was half vampire, but preferred tea to blood. As they drank their tea and chatted casually, Aella felt herself drifting away. She found herself in an elegant ballroom, where everyone was wearing masks. She was waltzing with a man in a mask to the beautiful music. She was quickly returned to her own body, and found herself slumped on the floor, with Hera and her Mom leaning over her. Along with a bunch of staff, worried expressions on all their faces. She had just had her first vision. _

_More memories flashed in front of my eyes, going even faster now. Aella finding out she was pyscic, Aella's Campagna pubblicitaria di Strega Potere, Aella going to Dutchess Analisa's masked ball, Aella going to charity dinners, Aella posing for paintings, Aella dress shopping with her best freind Nova, Aella learning all kinds of new spells, Aella meeting the Arthasian Prince and Princess at a treaty negotiation, Aella horseback riding at the summer house, Aella dancing alone in her room, Aella suspecting that she was the Lost Witch, but keeping it to herself until she was sure, and tons of other memories. _

_Even though everything went by so fast, I still cataloged everything, like it was an actual memory. And it wasn't just choice memories, it was all of Aella's. It was her entire life, flashing before my eyes. And I could feel her emotions, as if it was my memory. _

_I could feel her fear when she was kidnapped by the Arthasians, and when she was locked in the dungeon. I could feel how desperate she was to get out, as the days blended together and she could no longer keep track of time. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. Her whole life was so perfect, so carefree and happy. Sure it had it's ups and downs, just like everyones life. But it was generally a good life. How could her happy immortal life end like this, so sad and so violent?_

_Besides, she had a duty in life. She was the Lost Witch, and nobody even knew. She never got a chance to tell them. She couldn't let herself die yet, the Blue Flame and Dark Maiden hadn't even been born yet. How could she fufill her duties as Lost Witch if she died before they were even born?_

_I could feel her desperation as she prepared to kill herself. She knew she would have to end her life, she couldn't take it anymore. But, Aella was a fighter, she wasn't ready to stop living. So, she summoned all her strength into a reincarnation spell. It was her only option. A reincarnation spell drained all the life out of you, killing you. That's where it got the nessecary magic to preform the spell. _

_So, she whispered the words "L'offro il mio sangue, in cambio di è rinato. Mentre ogni ciclo finisce, un altro inizia. Per favore di concedere il mio desiderio morendo, mentre il sangue versa dalle mie vene." The Reincarnation Spell. _

_Then blood began to seep from nonexsistent lacerations on her wrists, throats, and head. the blood ran a light blue, the color of witch/vampire blood. It stained her cold tattoos making them look light blue. And as her life's blood poured out of her, she felt no pain. Because she knew she'd be reborn. _

_The revelation that I was Aella reincarnated hit me as soon as another set of lifetime's worth of memories hit me. And another, and another. They were all my past reincarnated states. _

_My next life was Sophia Miller, a wealthy English girl who emigrated to America just before the Revolution she was a gifted dancer, without ever taking lessons. All the steps were subconsciously in the back of her head, passed on from Aella. She also had an intense interest in drawing. She was an expert artist. She could draw anything, and make it look exactly like the original. She would draw people, animals, landscapes, buildings, nature, anything. She loved drawing just as much as dancing. Sophia wasn't quiet like girls in her era were expected to be, she was outspoken and skeptic. But people were still always drawn to her, and her entrancing charisma. The only problem was, she was born a human. A full human. Which meant she could die of natural causes. And she did, if you count a carriage accident a natural cause of death. _

_About ninety years later I was reborn as Bunny Smith, a girl living in the South during the Civil War. Bunny was also an amazing dancer, but her primary interest was animals. She loved horseback riding, which was simple since her family lived on a small farm. She would ride her favorite horse, Faith, every day. And take care of each and every animal, even their bad tempered donkey, Marty. Bunny tried to be outspoken, but it was difficult with all her brothers and sisters. But after her older brothers left to fight for the Confederate army, it became easier. But still, Bunny was too soft and human for the big bad world she lived in. She was always so gentle, caring for animals and people. It turned out to be the death of her human life, when she went inside their burning barn to save the animals. She opened up all the gates, freeing all the animals. Just after opening Faith's stable and allowing her to escape, Bunny collapsed from all the smoke. She was dead in minutes. _

_About eighty years later I was reborn again as Vivianne West, a rebellious girl in the nineteen twenties. She started her rebellion by becoming a flapper, and continued on to her dating mob boss, Bobbie Redblood. She wasn't just his accomplice, his arm candy, but she was also his Blood Donor. Because Bobbie Redblood was a vampire. Not that Vivianne (or as she was nicknamed "Trouble) knew that. The venom did a good job erasing any memories of blood exchanges. But, once her memories came back to her she recognized the signs and found out that Bobbie was a vampire. The day she went to confront him about it, she was hit by a car and killed. _

_And, now, finally, after four hundred years, I was finally reborn as a witch. Which I'd been waiting for four hundred years. That way, I could finally fufil my duties as Lost Witch.  
After I had my epifiny, I continued indulging in the memories of my past lives._


	25. Time Is Running Out

_**READ:**_

**Srry it's been a while. But, I was really busy n i got sidetracked by a new story of mine. Anyone here who loves Mortal Instruments shud check it out. It's called Wilt Away and it's all about Jace's life. Anyway, I wrote the beginning of this chapter a while ago, but i accidently deleted it. . .so, i'm gonna start again. Also, the pics that used 2 b on Jazper1843Hale's profile (now Little Shadowhunter) r on mine now. I finally got my profile to stop being a fag n so yea. I also figured it wud b easier 4 ppl 2 find if it was on my profile. Anyway, here's another shot at this chapter! :) **

* * *

*****Alala's POV*** **

I watched in surprise as the brunette girl (the supposed Lost Witch) collapsed to the ground.  
"Becca!" the tiny rude girl (Vitani) yelped.

Everyone was in motion at once, all rushing over to her. They all huddled around her but I hung back. I watched, with a sort of detached interest, as they all converged around her fallen form. Their panicked voices reached me, but the words were all meaningless white noise to my ears.

I watched numbly as one of the Prima's male advisors lifted the girl (Becca) into his arms. The whole conglomerate of people followed him out of the room like a funeral procession. And I found myself, without my consent, following behind them.

When the group passed by the front door, a loud peircing noise went off, but it sounded muffled to my ears. Somebody (I wasn't sure who) went over to answer the door. Three people entered, all of them only vaguely fammilar to me in my foggy haze. I did hear it though when one of them called my name.

"Alala!"

I looked up, feeling sick, as a blond boy approached me. I squinted, trying to get a better look at him, which was when I noticed that it was Alexanderon. He came so that he was standing directly in front of me. If I squinted I could see that he looked shocked and midly pleased.

"What are you doing here?" he sounded like he was in a tunnel.  
I pressed my fingers to my temple, "I-I" I mumbled.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked over the sound of water swooshing in my ears.  
"I-I have to go" I said desperatly, breaking away from the group and dashing out the front door.

"Alala!" I heard someone shout, but there voice was muffled, like a blanket over a radio. I ran around the side of the house, and collided with the fence. I blindly unlocked the latch on the door, and continued running. I ran through the spacious backyard and into the woods. I continued running through the snowy woods, my destination clear despite my fogged mind. At some point, I switched into my wolf self, hoping it would help sharpen my quickly dulling senses. It helped a little to slow down the decay of my coherent thoughts. I continued running, in a desperate fog. I had to get there, I had to.

Our time was running out.


	26. Dead Inside

**Sorry, sorry, sorry! Please don't hurt me! Ik that every1 is ticked off at me 4 taking so long to update; my inbox is full of PM's telling me 2 update soon every time i check it! It's crazy . . . and flattering . . . Yea, ik i'm getting lazy with my updates. . .but, u c, i'm in the process of writing a book and i have so many ideas 4 it n i'm so excited and i think it's even better then this story! Since, i have the chance to re-write things (unlike on fanfic, cuz once it's posted ppl read it) so i rewrote almost every chapter several times. So, yea, I'm real excited. anyway, I'm glad that so many new ppl have started this series recently . . . like not from the start . . . n i'm glad that ppl who have been with me from the beginning r still reading! :) Also, i'm glad that there's an increase in reviews! :) And,finally, if u actually bothered to read this little blurb, thnxs! I'd like 2 think that some1 reads these things. . . **

_***Becca's POV***_

**

* * *

**

_**"Flashbacks"**_

When I opened my eyes, I was in my bedroom at my grandmother's house, color-tinted sunlight streaming in from the stained glass window. I groaned softly and moved into a sitting position; I felt really weird, older. Well, maybe not older . . .more like wiser . . . well, actually, maybe not wiser either. More like . . .experienced. Yea, that was it, that was more accurate. Older and wiser didn't make any sense, considering that I've died before I was twenty in all of my past lives . . . obviously I'd never been that smart.

It was amazing, I didn't find any of this shocking. I guess it didn't seem weird because I (when I was Aella) planned this . . . and now I remembered planning it. So, it no longer seemed weird to me . . .actually, it was more like exciting. I had done so many things in all my past lives, and those had been mortal lifespans! Actually, they'd been much less then the normal life expectancy for mortals. So, imagine what I could do in an immortal lifetime, a never ending lifetime.

Not only had I done a lot of things, but I had so many different kinds of skills, and now they were all at my disposal. When I was Sophia I had been an excellent artist, and now I felt as if I could draw anything or anyone perfectly. When, actually, before this revelation I'd been a god awful artist. And, Bunny, she was an expert horseback rider and loved animals with a passionl; she'd do anything to save one; even give her own life. Now, I'd always loved animals . . .but never like I did now. And, Vivianne . . . oh where to start with Vivanne. When I was Vivianne I was the ultimate bad ass. As Bobbie's accomplice, I helped organize crime all over the city . . . bossing around all of Bobbie's lackies . . . big 'ol tough 1920's gangsters . . . listening to_ me, _respecting me. Not only was I criminal, but I was also the sexiest heart breaker of the decade. Seriously, Vivianne had it going for her. She was tough, a fighter, and didn't take shit from anyone. And now I felt like I had her courage inside me.

So, I wasn't afraid to go downstairs and tell the others who I was. I didn't think I was afraid of anything anymore. Hello? I'd_ died, _several times. I remembered each death with clarity.

****

_Sophia's death was my first after Aella's. I hadn't known that I was a reincarnated witch for most of my life as Sophia. It wasn't until the end. I was riding in our carriage with my best friend, Jezebel. Jezebel was a small girl, yet she was the same age as me. She was tiny, with long scarlet hair, reaching down to her waist, and big haunting grey eyes. We were both on our way home after the Christmas ball at Lady Anastasia's. It was snowing outside, and bitter cold. We were driving through the snowy woods, late at night. Jezebel and I were seated in the enclosed back of the carriage, with our driver up front. _

_"Didn't Lord Chandler look extraordinarily handsome this night?" Jezebel asked me.  
"Most definetly" I agreed.  
"Yes, and wasn't Rosemary's dress gorgeous?" she wondered. _

_"Oh yes" I said "I liked the lacey sleeves, very elegant."  
"Yes, but of course, Rosemary would look beautiful in a potato sack" Jezebel joked  
I laughed, "Yes, she's so lucky isn't she? I would give anything for hair like hers" I said. _

_"Yes, it is most beautiful isn't it?" Jezebel wondered "Such a pretty gold, it matches her eyes."  
"Yes, but you know what they say about Rosemary" I told her.  
"What?" Jezebel asked._

_"You don't know?" I asked, baffled, "Everyone says she's a witch."  
"That's ridiculous" Jezebel scoffed "Rose isn't a witch."  
"I wouldn't be so sure" I warned "She's got witch eyes." _

_Jezebel put her hands on her tiny hips. "And have you ever seen a witch?" she asked.  
"Well, no" I admitted "But Sara Johnson's older brother, Scott, said that when he was in Maryland there was a witch in town, and she had eyes just like Rose's." _

_Jezebel rolled her eyes, "You can't possibly believe what Scott Johnson told you" she said "That boy's a notorious liar."  
"No, he's not" I defended my source "He's seen things, he knows things."  
"That doesn't mean all those stories he tells are true" she contradicted. _

_I shrugged, "They could be . . . and Rose could be a witch. . .you don't know" I said.  
"Oh yes I do" she said.  
"How?" I asked. _

_"Well, it's kind of complicated actually" she said uncomfortably, Jezebel who never got flustered, "I've actually been planning to tell you for a while now, honest."  
"Well, go on with it" I prompted.  
"I'm a-" she began. _

_She was cut off as the carriage suddenly veered off the road. Jezebel and I were tossed around inside, tumbling around as the carriage rolled off the road. The horses frightened and pained whinnies could be heard faintly, they were partially blocked out by the screaming. I was screaming, Jezebel was screaming, and the driver was screaming. Although, I do believe I screamed the loudest. As my body slammed back and forth against the walls of the carriage it felt as if my bones were shattering. And suddenly, I fell out of the carriage through the door, which had been knocked open by impact. I flew out of the carriage and onto the cold snow, my head cracking against the ice. _

_I felt something warm and wet spreading across my head, and realized it was blood. Attempting to see through the growing black spots in my vision, I looked at the crash seen. The carriage was toppled over on the side of the road, looking like a heap of twisted wood. The horses were desperately trying to get to their feet, trapped by the harnses attaching them to the fallen carriage. The driver was lieing on the side of the road, his arm twisted at an odd angle, and blood everywhere. . .but I could tell that he was breathing. I didn't see Jezebel anywhere. _

_I opened my mouth to call her name, but no sound came out.  
Then I heard my name, "Sophia! Sophia! _My God, Sophia!"

_Suddenly, Jezebel appeared, hovering over me. She didn't look that badly hurt. Her dress was torn and she had a smattering of blood on her, but not much. Her red hair whipped in the wind like a flag and her grey eyes filled with tears. _

_"Sophia!" she cried, kneeling down next to me, "Oh my God, Sophia!"  
I opened my mouth to speak, but blood bubbled in my mouth. _

_"Here" she said desperately, pushing her sleeve back and scraping her fingers against the skin, drawing blood.  
I squeaked in disaproval and shock. _

_"Here, drink my blood" she said, offering her wrist to me, "It has healing qualities."  
I tried to say something, anything, but I chocked on my own blood. _

_I finally managed something, "I-I-w-what?" I croaked.  
"I tried to tell you!" she cried "I did! Sophia, I'm not a human. . .I'm a pixie . . ." _

_Once she said those words, my mind snapped like a rubber band. And all the memories of my past life came swarming back at me. I blacked out as it happened, and it felt like years had passed when I opened my eyes. But, Jezebel was still leaning over me in the snow, her scarlet hair in stark contrast to the starless sky above her. She looked frantic, with tears rolling down her cheeks. _

_I smiled thinly, "I have something to tell you to" I chocked "In a past life, I was a witch."  
Then I closed my eyes, for the last time in that life. _

_"No, Sophia please!" Jezebel sobbed "No, please don't leave me! You can't die, n-no please! Please God . . .oh God, no. Please, please. . . . . . . No you, can't leave me. What will I do without you? No, no, no, no. . . . You're my best friend-no . . . please" _

_And then I died. _

_******_

It wasn't too pleasant to remember one's death, yet Sophia's wasn't the worst of my deaths. Aella's probably was. . .although, Bunny's was horrific too.

_******_

_I had been woken up in the middle of the night by the sounds of frantic whinnies and the smell of smoke. I had rolled out of my cot, wearing my floor length conservative white night gown. I lit a candle and walked out of my little room to my younger brother's (Mathew) room. I went over to his bed to find that it was empty. _

_"Matt?" I hissed, but there was no answer. Deciding to worry about him later, I crept downstairs and out the front door. Once I was outside, I got an eyeful. Tons of smoke was wafting from the burning barn, flames pouring out the windows. The cries of the trapped animals tore through the night. _

_"Faith!" I screamed in horror, and without thinking, ran across the field to the burning barn. Without a shred of self preservation, I flung the barn door open and stepped into the inferno. Inside the fire was terrifying, but the only thing I could think of was the animals, of Faith. It was terribly confusing inside, what with the sounds of frightened animals filling your ears, smoke burning your eyes and filling your lungs, and flames ingulfing everything. But, somehow I made my way through the fiery maze. _

_As I passed each stall, I opened it, freeing the animal it contained. They bolted for the exit, every one, but not without glancing back at me, with what I could've sworn was sorrow. I didn't dwell on it though, I just pushed through, trying to free more animals. Somewhere in the endless amount of time I spent in the burning barn, I began hearing my name being called. I ignored it, and marched on. Finally, I reached Faith's stall. It was the very last one, and I freed every animal on my long journey to it. Inside, my beautiful mare was whinning franticly, and kicking her legs. Her usually perfect white coat and snowy mane was covered in ashes. _

_"Shhhhhhh" I soothed, my voice hard to hear over all the noise, "It's all right, girl, I'm gonna get you out."  
She lifted her front legs and let out a high whinny. _

_Desperatly, I pulled the latch and yanked the stable door open, and Faith galloped out. She began to run for the exit, but then she stopped. She looked back at me and let out a whine of a whinny.  
"I'll be fine" I chocked on the smoke "Go on, get!"  
When she still refused, I picked up a peice of broken wood and threw it at her, even though it pained me. When it hit her hide, she took off running autmotically. _

_I smiled thinly through the smoke induced tears, "That's a good girl" I said, as I suddenly dropped to the floor. The smoke was becoming to much, it was filling my lungs, and I knew I was going to die. I closed my eyes, and continued to choke on smoke. Just then, I heard the sound of heavy paws and loud panting breath . . . very close to me. I assumed it was our dog Bailey, coming back for me. _

_"Go Bailey" I coughed "You stupid dog, go-leave me."  
An anxious whine sounded, and something wet nudged my side. _

_I opened my eyes, not without effort, and found myself staring at a dog . . . but not Bailey. I wouldn't even really consider it a dog, it was a wolf. A big 'ol wolf. He was thickly muscled and twice the size of our pettite little collie. I couldn't tell what color the wolf's coat was, it was black with soot. But I could see his eyes, big deep blue eyes. . . they were the eyes of my brother, he got them from Mama. _

_"Matt" I croaked, almost not believing what I already knew. Suddenly, I blacked out. All the memories of my past lives flooded into my head. Aella's whole life, and Sophia's. It felt like years had passed, two lifetimes, but when I opened my eyes the wolf (Matt) was still hovering above me with big anxious blue eyes. _

_And that's when I knew, Matt was a werewolf. Had I known about the immortal world (like Aella) I would've realized it a lot sooner. Probably immediatly after that night he came home late, a nasty bloody wound on his shoulder. He'd said he'd been bitten by a wolf. Mama had been frantic, worrying that the wolf might be rabid. But, Matt swore it wasn't . . . he had gone near it's cubs, he'd said, provoked it. The next morning, Matt wasn't there, and he didn't come back for several days. We had all been worried sick, and when he finally came back four days later, we let him have it. He'd been vague about where he'd been . . .and there'd been something different about him . . . I could never place it. He left home a lot, and nobody ever knew where he went. _

_"I should've known" I croaked, a pained smile crossing my chapped lips. Then, I let my eyes close.  
An agonizing, mourning, howl cut through the night like a blade. _

_And then I died again. _

*****

Of course, my deaths were sad and tragic, because I always died in some horrific way . . . and too young. But, if I had to pick a death that I had to pick a death I found most amusing, I would say Vivianne's. Not that death should ever be amusing. . .but Vivianne, she just had something about her . . . a cocky sarcastic nature that could make the worst things comical. It was truly impressive. I had some of that in me, but it was deluted. Not the flawless humor of Vivanne West, who could make jokes while she died.

*****

_I stormed out of my house, looking and feeling like a woman on a mission, a search and destroy mission. I had been getting ready to go see Bobbie at his hideout, when I decided to look in my older sisters room to 'borrow' her lipstick. Well, along the way the toe of my sassy leather boots got caught in a crooked floorboard, and I fell. Smashed my head on the floor, and then, out of the blue, all the memories of Aella, Sophia, and Bunny filled my mind. When I woke up, alone in the hallway of my house, I smirked to myself. "Well, I'll be damned" I muttered. _

_Well, after I got off the floor, something hit me; Bobbie was a vampire. Now that I knew all about the immortal world (again) I knew what to look for. And Bobbie had all the signs. Death pale skin, extremly good looking, abnormal eyes (a very enticing gold in his case), a temperature a little higher then norm, pretty damn strong, smarter then you'd expect a pretty boy like him to be, and he never ate or drank anything. . . unless of course you counted my blood. I didn't know he was drinking my blood until then though. I figured it out on my own. The foggy memory on some of my dates with Bobbie, and the weird hickeys on my neck. Once you know vamps are real, it's pretty damn easy to figure out. _

_So, I was going to confront him. I had dressed for the occasion. Tht leather pants (this was the time when women, particularly bad asses like myself, started wearing pants) a black blouse, heaps of gold chains and jewlery, and some expertly done makeup. I had to admit, with my chin length (straight thanks to my mom in this life time) light brown hair, green eyes (got those from my previous dad) and smokin' bod, I was the sexiest chic this side of Europe. _

_Now, that might sound conceeded . . . but hell, when I was Vivianne I had reason to be conceeded. I was strong, confident, beautiful, witty, and tough. People didn't screw with me, or they'd be sleepin' with the fishes. And people didn't screw with my man either, Bobbie Reblood was uncatchable, witty, handsome, and strong. Not to mention a vamp. So, we were a force to be reckoned with. _

_Well, even without Bobbie I was a force of nature. And Bobbie was gonna have some explainin' to do when I got my mits on him, that was for sure. So, I strutted down the busy streets of New York, smirking at the catcalls and wolf whistles I received. As I entered a bad neighborhood, I made sure to give my most filthiest scowl to every low life who looked at me funny, or even if they just looked at me. _

_I spotted the abanoded werhouse across the street from me, where Bobbie and his cronnies organized their 'buisness.'  
_"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"_ I thought wryly "_You better be ready Robert Redblood."

_Just as I walked across the street, a car slammed into me. I didn't even see it coming, and even when I was lieing half dead in the middle of the road as the car speeded away, I wasn't afraid. _"Looks like I'll be comin' back another time"_ I thought "_Maybe next time I'll be a little smarta, and learn how to look both ways 'fore crossin' the goddamn street."

_I watched as a crowd began to form around me. I stayed where I was on the ground, blood flowing from my head freely. I smirked thinly as Bobbie came into view. He knelt above me.  
"Oh God, what happened to ya Vivs?" he asked hopelessly. _

_"Don't be so bent out of shape" I said, holding on to my tough edge "I ain't gone for good."  
"What ya mean by that?" he asked, looking confused.  
"I know your secret Fang Boy" I said "But you never knew mine. I'm a reincarnated witch." _

_I was sure to be quiet enough so that none of the others would be able to hear, they were too far away. _

_"You-your what?" he stuttered, Bobbie Redblood . . . stuttering! It was truly a historical moment. The man who sweet talk tons of women and talked his way out of endless jams.  
"I'm a witch, buddy boy" I repeated "You deaf or somethin'?" _

_"How come I never knew!" he demanded.  
"Don't be so dramatic, Mary" I said, begining to fade, "I didn't know either." _

_"And now-and now your going to die?" he asked, sounding genuinly sad.  
"Oh don't be so excited" I said, although he clearly wasn't, "I'm not gonna be gone for good. I'll be back, in someone else's body. Don't think for a second your getting off the hook for makin' me your blood donor." _

_"Vivianne it wasn't like that!" he insisted "I had to take blood from you, 'cause if I didn't I'd have to get it from someone else . . . and then you'd think I was cheating on you!"  
"We can talk about it when I'm reborn" I mamaged, fading fast. _

_"Vivianne" he whispered.  
"Can't get rid of you that easy" I managed, smiling thinly. And then I died, for the fourth time. My last thought was: _

This dieing thing is gettin' old fast.

*******

So, when you've died several times, in different horrific ways, there wasn't much you were afraid of. Now, there were still things I was afraid _for . . . _like my family, my friends. . . _Austin._ I'd lost so many people over the years, I didn't want to lose anymore. Now, some, I hadn't lost. Like Jezebel, Matt, and Bobbie. They were all immortals, and I'd bet they were still alive.

Now, one might find it odd that in every life I was surronded my immortals, but truly it isn't. It's perfectly common. Most humans come in contact with thousands of immortals, they just never know. Immortals are everywhere. Anyone could be an immortal, no matter how well you think you know them. Your best friend could be one, your brother could be one, your boyfriend could be one . . .even you could be one. In all of my lives (including this one) I learned that people are never who you think they are. . .not even yourself.


	27. Beautiful Liar

**_OMG, i'm sooooo sorry! I didn't think time wud get away from me so easily! But it did, n i apologize. But now i'm going 2 write this chapter (at last) btw, thanks 4 all the awesome reviews! They make my day. And now i'm finally going 2 update. Wish me luck with thi_****_s. _**

* * *

_**"Reactions"**_

I continued down the stairs, to find the main room empty. I could hear voices drifting towards me from the second parlor. I could easily recognize the voice of my true mother, and my true father; King Zephorous and Queen (well, former Queen) Prima. Immedialty, I made my way to the second parlor. I stepped in to find it packed. All the Council members were sitting down; looking important of course. Prima and King Zephorous were sitting directly in front of each other, I noticed. Raziel stood behind Prima's chair, looking protective and fierce besides On another couch off in the corner sat Vitani, Xavier, Tansy, Kalika, Kiron, and Athan. They were all sitting strangely quiet and unobtrusive. Lining the walls were tons of witches, young and mature, wounded and unharmed. Sitting on another couch were the Kardigan's, all the Kardigan's. Austin, Kate, Hera, Vulcan, and Alexanderon . . . they were all present. I was surprised to see the last three. Austin still had a cast on his arm and bandages all over, and he was kinda slumped in his seat, still looking a little sickly. Kate looked extremely worried, with Domingo standing next to her seat, his hand over hers.

The second I stepped into the room, everyone went completly silent. Everyone looked up to look at me with different expressions. Most looked relieved, but some looked shocked.  
"Becca!" Austin rejoiced, trying to get up. But Kate lightly pushed him back down, and then sprung to her feet herself.

"Oh my God, Becca! I've been so worried about you" she said, running up to me and hugging me tightly.  
"I'm fine" I insisted "But I do have something to tell you all."

My mother (Prima) stood up, looking alarmed. I noticed Austin staring at me, looking extremely confused and extremely relieved. And suddenly, I wanted to be alone with him so badly. A lot of things might've changed in the last few days, but my love for Austin did not. In all my past lives, I'd never loved anyone like I loved Austin. I'd loved all my friends, and all my families, I still did, but that wasn't the same thing. I'd loved Bobbie, but that still wasn't the same. I'd loved the thrill Bobbie presented, the chance to get into some serious trouble. It was nothing like my love for Austin. I loved Austin because he was sweet, and childish, and stubborn, and unstable, and powerful, and loving. And I knew I could never love anyone else, the prochecy even said Austin and I were destined for each other. The Blue Flame and the Lost Witch; immortal soul mates, unstoppable battle partners, endless lovers; destined to be together until the end of time.

When I was Aella, I knew the whole prophecy. The part about the Lost Witch that Austin had left out. And now I knew why he left it out. He'd claimed it was because it was irrelevant to the story, but now I knew why. He had left it out because the Lost Witch and Blue Flames were eternal soul mates, and at the time of the story we didn't know I was the Lost Witch. So, Austin hadn't wanted to bum me out by telling me that he was destined to be madly in love with someone else. Who, actually turned out to be me anyway . . . ironic.

The part of the prophecy he had left out went right in between _"Dose the fires of hate"_ and _"But the Goddess of Dawn will rekindle the flames of fury."_ It went:

_The Lost Witch and the Blue Flame shall be eternal lovers  
Minds linked, blood mixed, souls intertwined_

_Forever together, impossible to separate  
Linked by blood and essence; thoughts combined _

_Reciprocated pain; sorrow spreads from one mind to another  
Agony is shared, as is their joy _

_Ecstasy leads to more ecstasy  
And suffering leads to more suffering _

_But this link of life and blood shall make them an unstoppable battle duo  
Working in unison, impossible to defeat_

_And the Lost Witch shall care for the Blue Flame  
Curing the instability nursed by the fire _

It made sense that Austin had left that out; there was a lot of deep stuff in those breif little sentences. He probably thought it would upset me to hear all that lovey-dovey stuff involving him and another girl (who ironically turned out to be me.) Wow, there was a lot of irony in my life. . .

"What is it you'd like to say?" my mother asked, noticing my slight pause as my mind went over all that.  
I took a deep breath, "This isn't going to be easy to believe" I told everyone"But, I think I know a way that can convince you."

"Convince us of what?" Odysseus sneered.  
Austin snarled at him weakly, still sickly, but forever faithful and angry with anyone who challenged me.

Mrs. Kardigan put a rebuking hand on her son's shoulder, warning him to control himself. The General's smirk grew, and I had to hold back a snarl of my own. I settled with a withering glare, and then turned back to the others.

"Like I was saying" I continued "This is not going to be easy to believe, but please, keep an open mind."  
"What do you have to say Becca" my mother asked.

"I'm a reincarnate" I told them.  
An unorganized chorus of "What!?" came from all over the place.

My mother kept her composure, as did some others, but Austin and Kate we're not one of those. Kate's eyes widened in shock, and Austin went rigid in his seat.  
"That is why you passed out, no?" my mother asked calmly "Because your memories were returning to you?"

"Yes, I've had four past lives" I said "And all the memories just came back to me."  
"Yes, that is quite plausible" she agreed "You were unconscious for four days; a day for each life . . . that's usually how it goes. Now, let me guess, you used a reincarnation spell in your first life to save yourself from an early death, no?"

"Yes" I agreed "I was kidnapped in my first life, and held prisoner . . . I went crazy. So, I decided to end it all. However, I had some unfinished business. . ."  
Everyone stared at me in amazement, and Prima's expression was still composed, but I saw a combination of fear and suspicion brewing behind her violet eyes. I noticed Vitani sitting completly still with her jaw hanging open. Austin looked completly shocked, I wasn't even sure if he was still present mentally. He was staring forward blankly with a rigid posture.

"Um, Becca?" my mother asked worriedly "Who exactly where you in your past lives?"  
"Well, in order of most recent to the first I was; Vivianne West, Bunny Smith, Sophia Miller and . . . Aella Azimon."

The room suddenly exploded in activity. People jumped to their feet, people shouted in disbelief, and other such activities. My father, the king, screamed "How dare you defile the honor of my late daughter with your lies! Dispose of this disrespectful fraud!" My mother (my never-endingly composed mother) burst into tears and fell to her knees, crying "My baby, my _baby_!" in the most broken voice. Kate's jaw fell slack and she whispered "Oh my God" before she collapsed to the floor. This seemed to be to much for Austin, whom I decided really _was _mentally present, as well and his eyes closed as his head lolled to the side; he was unconscious. Mrs. Kardigan's hand went to the necklace around her throat and she whispered "Oh dear God . . ." as tears dripped down her pretty face. Mr. Kardigan went completly still, his posture rigid. Alex jumped to his feet automatically, but once he was standing he didn't seem to know what to do with himself; he just stood there awkwardly with his mouth hanging open. General Oddyseus growled at me, his eyes blazing. Dr. Nova began crying, and making these little whimpering sounds. But, of all the strong responses; screaming, crying, shouting, feinting . . . Vitani's was the strongest.

She jumped to her feet, tears streaming down her face, "I knew you'd come back to ruin my life!" she screamed "I knew there was a reason I hated you!" And with that, she threw a ball of black sparkly matter at the floor, causing a ripple effect, like an earthquake to go through the room. Then, she ran out the door, crying and yelling. Nobody seemed to notice her dark magic, or outburst . . . they were all to caught up in their own outbursts.

"How dare you disrespect the honor of our deceased Princess!" General Oddyseus shouted, agreeing with my father.  
"I'm not lieing!" I defended myself "I am Aella."

"Lies!" my father shouted, bleary eyed.  
"No, there not!" I shouted back "Everything I'm telling you is true, I can prove it!"

"Then do it" Odysseus challenged me.  
"I will" I said haughtily, and the room got quieter, but not silent. People stopped yelling and shouting, but the crying continued. My mother stayed crumpled on the floor, sobbing, while several women knelt next to her, comforting her. Nova continued whimpering off to the side, with Dr. Nicodemus comforting her. Mrs. Kardigan and Domingo were kneeling next to Kate, where she was passed out on the floor. Mr. Kardigan, who had regained his composure, was lightly shaking his youngest son's shoulder, trying to wake him up.

"Mom" I said, and her bloodshot eyes looked up at me while tears streamed down her face, "This used to be our summer house, my room was at the end of the hall. We would come here every summer, we used to ride horses and go swimming. You and Dad liked to get away from all the stress of the city, Deacon was still our butler back then. My room here was full of china dolls and dresses and had a pink canopy bed. You know, some of my favorite memories are of this summer house . . . I loved it."

Instead of answering, my mother let out this agonized cry of pain, and began sobbing passionately.  
"And Dad" I said, turning to King Zephorous, who looked up at me, looking pained, "Do you know what I really loved? I loved playing in the backyard of the Azimon Manor. While Mom drank tea with her friends . . . She used to drink tea with Hera all the time. They met at Dutchess Analisa's ball. Me and you would play in the backyard while they talked. After meeting me as a child Hera wanted to have a baby, isn't that right Mrs. Kardigan? But she hadn't met Vulcan yet, so that was impossible . . . but whenever she came over she would always fawn over me. Remember that Dad?"

Tears filled King Zephorous eyes and he turned away from me in a swift movement.  
"I remember getting my first vision" I continued, talking to everyone, "I was twelve, and I was drinking tea with Mom and Hera. And I remember that Nova was my best friend. Do you remember that Nova? I remember that you used to have a crush on Cybele's son, Nico . . . but I see that he goes by Nicodemus now, isn't that right Dr. Nicodemus? You two are engaged now aren't you? I remember hearing about that a few weeks ago, it just didn't mean anything to me until my memories came back. Now I can't help but feel a little smug. You know, considering that I suggested that you two go out."

Nova's crying picked up, and a single tear escaped Nicodemus' eye. He wiped it away with the back of his hand absently, and continued confronting his fiancee.  
With no regard to the affect my stories had on people, I continued on ruthlessly "And every year I used to go Duchess Analisa's ball . . . me and Nova would worry about what we were going to wear for weeks. And I would always dance with a bunch of sons of ambassadors, counts, dukes, and other important rich people. Nova would always dance with a bunch of guys, but would always wish Nico would ask her to dance. He never did, I always thought it was because he feared she would reject him. But that's not the case is it? No, he was actually afraid of what his mother would say about him dating a werewolf, isn't that right Cyebele?"

Cybele stared at me, her fash flushed and tears running down her cheeks.  
"And oh General Odysseus" I said "Don't think I forgot about you. I always hated you, even thought you usually left me alone. I was the princess so I was off limits to your torment. Well, Austin's the prince and you never cut him a break. Well, now I think that you left me alone because you were afraid of my father. Well, if I were you, I would be afraid of Mrs. Kardigan . . . she'll kick your ass if you screw with her kids."

His face went completly black, his jaw slack.  
"And one last thing" I continued "When I was in that Arthasian prison, I knew I was going to die one way or another. So, I used a reincarnation spell. And as you know, that spell provides and instant quick death, and also a chance to come back. Now, I knew I was the Lost Witch, but I hadn't known long. I found out about a week prior to my kidnapping, but I didn't want to tell anyone until I was sure. Well, I knew I couldn't_ die_. Austin hadn't been born yet; I needed to live to fufil the prochecy. So, I used the reincarnation spell, which as you all know, causes your blood to spill out of invisible wounds. And as you also know, half-vampire and half-witch blood is a light blue. Well, the blue blood stained my tattoos, which is why they are blue to this day. But, identical in design to my previous tattoos. Now, does anyone have any questions?"

Everything was in chaos. People were crying, yelling, argueing, shouting. Some people appeared to be in denial, like Analisa, she was just staring forward with this blank expression, shaking her head slowly. While others, like Athan and Vitani's freinds, were silent and wide eyed, mouths hanging open in shock. Now, others had feinted; like Austin and Kate. Although, I was willing to bet that Kate passed out more from shock, and Austin passed out because of his sickness combined with shock. But, they weren't the only unconscious ones. Several witches I did not know had dropped to the floor, as did Aurai, the pixie on the Council. A bunch of witches I didn't know where arguing with my father, who was bleary eyed and seemed on the verge of crying. I could hear Vitani screaming upstairs, along with the crashes, which, I was sure, were caused by her destruction. While Vitani threw a fit, our mother was crumpled to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably, whispering pained cries.

"My baby . . . my baby, my darling . . . my Aella."


	28. Too Bad

_**Since I made u guys wait a week 4 a new chapter, i'm trying 2 return 2 my usual routine. All though, due to my scheldule there'll probably b times wen the time between chapters will be prettty long. . .but, wenever i have time I'll make sure 2 write as much as possible. Anyway, now I'm giving u 2 chapters in 2 days. . .aren't u lucky? Anyways, hope u like it n plz review! :)**_

_**"Speches" **_

I stood in the middle of the room for a long time, feeling extremely awkward. It took a while for things to calm down. After all the sobbing and melt downs were over, we were able to get things moving. My mother was still crying when her advisors led her upstairs to lie down, but she wasn't sobbing any more at least, just sniffling. My father left the room to be alone, I had no clue where he went, the house was huge, he could be anywhere. Everyone who was crying or broken up left first, off to be alone I assumed. The people who were only slightly shaken left next, but they left in groups. And the people who found this shocking, but weren't spazzing out, handled things. Mrs. Kardigan seemed centered (but I had a feeling the fact that her two youngest children were unconscious kept her head clear) and Mr. Kardigan did too. Alex seemed alright, as did Domingo, Raziel, some witches I didn't know, and some members of the Council.

Raziel was dispersed to go check on Vitani, along with Athan. Domingo had lifted Kate onto a couch where she could rest, and then brought Austin back upstairs to his room. Mr. Kardigan went with him, while Mrs. Kardigan and Alex stayed with Kate. In the end, the room was completely cleared. The only ones left were me, Alex, Kate, and Mrs. Kardigan. As Mrs. Kardigan knelt by her daughter, Alex came over to me.

"You okay?" he asked, seeming concerned . . . I'd admired him for not being freaked out.  
"Yea" I said "I've seen worst."

"I bet" he said "Mind if I ask you something? Do you feel . . . different now?"  
"Different? Hmmm . . . . . . no" I decided "No not really. I'm still me; I've always had the same personality, only in different settings."

"Interesting . . ." he mumbled, as I wondered why he wanted to know.  
"Well, I'm going to check on Austin" I told him.

"Oh yea, okay" he mumbled, turning back to his mother and sister. I diapered out of the room, ignoring the people I passed, and up the stairs. I was about to go up the next staircase, when I suddenly stopped. My eyes locked on the door at the end of the hallway; it was my old room from when we stayed at the summer house. I had to see what it looked like now, if it had changed in the last four hundred years.

Immediately, I walked down the hallway towards my room. As I passed Vitani's room, I could hear her screaming at Raziel.  
"Leave me alone!" she screeched over the crashing sounds, "I don't want to talk to anyone!"

Deciding to prolong the discussion I was going to have to have with Vitani, I picked up the pace and hurried to my room. I paused in front of the room at the end of the hall, my room. The door looked normal, it looked as if it had been opened yesterday, maybe it had.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open. The room was in perfect condition. My lacy pink canopy bed was in mint condition, my favorite china doll placed in the center. It was a beautiful doll that I was in love with until I was twelve; her name was Mary. She had curly brown hair and wore a silk blue dress and a lace headdress. More china dolls lined the white shelves installed into the pink walls. A white dresser with detailed flowers painted all over it had knick knacks on top of it. Paintings of me from every year of my life lined the walls. Everything was completely preserved and there was no dirt or dust on anything; I wondered if it was some kind of spell my mother used.

I drifted over to my dresser and picked up a little glass figure of a tiny princess. Aurai had given it to me for my fourth Christmas, telling me that it was a charm that made everyone adore me. I think that one worked a little too well. I toyed with it before placing it back down. Then I picked up a figurine of a black wolf, it had the words _"I bambini della luna la proteggeranno" _carved into the side, which I now knew was Azimon-Italian for _"The children of the moon will protect you." _It had been given to me by Lupo (Werewolf Representative) for my eleventh birthday, he told me it was charmed and would protect me . . . well, clearly that wasn't very affective . . . maybe it had an expiration date.

Sighing, I placed the little figure back on the dresser. Then, with one last wistful glance around my old room, I turned and left. I made my way quickly down the hallway, speeding up when I passed Vitani's room; I'd deal with her later. I went up the second staircase and into the infirmary. I noticed there were less patients in the infirmary now, but not that many less. I headed for Austin's room; ignoring the whispers and wondering stares that followed me.

I opened the door, and the room looked pretty normal. Austin lay in his bed, sound asleep. His broken arm lay over the sheets in it's set position, while his other arm lay limply on the other side. His eyes were closed, his dark eyelashes brushing against his high cheekbones. Bruises and cuts dotted his skin, but the two most noticeable were the slashes on his cheek and forehead. He was breathing softly and evenly, his plump lips slightly open.

Mr. Kardigan stood by the window, glancing back and forth between the scenery outside and his sleeping son. He looked up at me when I entered the room.  
"Oh, hello Becca" he greeted me casually, and I was shocked by, yet another, Kardigan's ability to act like nothing had changed.

"Hi Mr. Kardigan" I said, resisting the urge to call him Vulcan like I did when we first met some four hundred years ago, "How's he doing?"  
He shrugged helplessly, "I don't know" he admitted "Alright I think. The nurse just left, she believes the shock of your speech combined with the virus is what caused this."

"Oh, well, that doesn't make me feel responsible . . ." I muttered dryly.  
"Sorry" Mr. Kardigan apologized sheepishly "I didn't mean it like that; I'm sure this discovery was just as hard on you."

"No actually" I admitted thoughtfully "Once my memories were back this discovery felt perfectly normal."  
"Amazing" he mused "Would you mind if I ask you something, uh Princess?"

"You don't have to do that" I told him; despite the fact I was used to it in my first life, I was not used to the title in this life.  
"Sorry Becca" he apologized "Anyway, I was wondering if you remembered meeting me?"

"Of course I do!" I exclaimed in a whisper, not wanting to wake Austin up . . . he needed to sleep, "We met at Lady Cyebele's yearly banquet. Hera-I mean Mrs. Kardigan-brought you with her. Her and my mother were great friends . . . which reminds me, nobody ever told me, how did Mrs. Kardigan come into all that money? I mean, I know that when she was human she lived in a simple little village. . . but after her transformation she came into Hades and was immediately excepted into upper-class society . . . how was that?"

He smiled, as if recalling a memory, "She met Countess Aurai at the seamstresses she worked in after first moving to Hades. They struck up a conversation with her while they looked for Aurai's wedding dress. Well, the two became friends and Hera helped Aurai plan her wedding. Apparently, it was so spectacular that Aurai's rich friends _begged _Aurai to recomend them to her planner. So, she did. And, thus, my wife became the biggest wedding planner in all of Hades."

"I went to Aurai's wedding!" I exclaimed, still quiet, "I was like two! But I remember it perfectly! It was amazing!"  
"Did you go to Dutchess Agata's wedding?" he wondered.

"Yes, I believe I was about fifteen" I said "That wedding was beautiful; did Mrs. Kardigan plan that to?"  
"Yes" he announced, proud of his wife.

"That was a beautiful wedding" I mused "But, umm, can I have a minute alone with Austin?"  
"Oh, yes, of course" he said, heading for the door. He paused outside the door, "I'll see you later, Prin- Becca" he caught himself.

Then, as I rolled my eyes he slipped out the door. Then, I drifted over to Austin's bedside, and knelt down. I grabbed Austin's hand where it lay limply by his side. I held his pale warm hand, covered in scratches, and pressed it to my cold cheek.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in years" I told him, even though he was unconscious and couldn't hear me.  
"I've missed you so much" I whispered. I was sure I could only say some of this stuff to him while he was asleep.

"It feels like we never get to spend any time together anymore. You're always at Council meetings, and I'm always having magic lessons. And then there's school, and friends, and you have sports practice and I have dance . . . and it just seems like we never get to be alone anymore. And it's about to get even worse. I mean, now we're _both _going to be stranded in the spotlight. Papparazi and media will harrass us day and night! You said it yourself, and that was before you even knew I was Aella! I remember what it was like when I was Aella, and that was long before the invention of cameras and TV's, . . . .and-and tabloid newspapers! And all that other stuff. It's gonna be a nightmare Austin! You and I; their going to target us like freakin' vultures! You said it yourself; you called them parasites. You're the prince, they already target you! And I'm the reincarnated, long-dead, Lost Witch of a formerly beloved Princess! Not to mention, we're a major couple. The press'll just eat that up . . . they're going to make life hell for us, Austin. And that's not even the worse of our problems!"

As I rambled, Austin breathed softly and remained asleep, but I just kept talking. "The Arthasians, Austin, the Arthasians are still after us . . . Aurora's still after us. Aurora wants me_ dead_, and she wants to make you her own little-little love toy! And you know they have the means of making that happen, Austin. You know their capable of killing me . . . they've done it before! And their most definitely capable of kidnapping you . . . they've done that . . . what? Three times already? How are we supposed to stop them!? The only way we could possibly be safe is by living under the constant supervision of the Council, like you used to. And you know that's no life! Ha, it isn't even that _safe_! You've got multiple burns by being near them, not to mention nameless emotional scars. . ."

"But without their protection we're both vulnerable to the Arthasians torment! I mean-look at you! They starved you, and hurt you, and made you sick. . .That's much worse then anything the Council ever did to us-either of us. So what are we supposed to do?"

I was on the verge of crying, everything was just so stressful. I could feel tears stinging in my eyes and my throat getting sore, "I don't know what to do Austin" my voice coming out in a bit of a sob "It's so-it's just so god damn confusing! And I don't know what we're supposed to do-how we're supposed to be safe . . . how we're supposed to be happy. Everything is wrong, Austin. It's all so wrong. Everyone is either hurt-or angry-or cripplingly sad . . . nothing is like it should be! The Arthasians have ruined everything!"

Suddenly overwhelmed by my anger and hate towards the Arthasians, I jumped to my feet, releasing Austin's hand roughly. It fell back to his side limply, and he didn't wake. "They ruin everything Austin!" I shouted, and I was amazed it didn't wake him, "They killed me when I was eighteen! They left me to rot in a basement! And they left you to rot in the same basement four hundred fuckin' years later! And they tortured you! You may not remember it, but I do. It was like being locked in that dungeon all over again! They are sick, cruel bastards and I hate them! I wish they would go die in a fuckin' hole! I-I-I. . ."

I needed to stop, I was losing it, getting out of hand. If I didn't stop soon, I would be in hysterics; I would launch myself into temper tantrum like Austin always did. And then I'd be screaming and yelling, and that would wake Austin up. And I couldn't do that; Austin needed to sleep. It was my fault that he got hurt in the first place (what with me and my stupid party) so I had a duty to do everything I could to help him get better.

I took a deep, cleansing breath and closed my eyes. After regaining my composure, I apologized to the sleeping Austin "Sorry" I said quietly "I guess it's not that bad. . . we'll get through this . . . and then we can be happy again . . ."

I knelt back down next to him and brushed the back of my hand against his cheek, "We can be happy like we used to before this mess. Back when it was just Austin the jockish player and Becca the gothic dancer. When the only things I were worried about were the tests I had to take and not looking stupid in front of you. I'm sure you had a lot more to worry about; what with the blue fire and all . . . but I know that you were happier then you are right now. I want to go back to that Austin; I want to go back to being happy. . . I-" my voice broke when I said the next part, "I want to go home."

Then, after wiping away the frustrated tears that had escaped my eyes, I kissed Austin lightly on his forehead. "Love you" I said quietly. After that, I turned away and left his room. As soon as the door clicked shut behind me I heard Austin's voice, "Love you too." For a moment I feared that he had been awake to hear my entire speech, but then I just assumed that the door shutting had woken him up, or at least I hoped.

With a sigh, I decided that what I really needed to do was watch TV and then make arrangements to go home. I began walking silently down the quiet hallway. Once I was back into the main room of the infirmary, it was very quiet. The witch receptionist stood at the desk, flipping through the pages of a magazine, while several others hovered in the halls quietly. I headed for the stairs; my shoes clicking against the hard floor were the loudest sound in the room.

Just as I almost made it to the staircase, Kate whirled out of nowhere and grabbed my wrists; a feverish look in her eyes.  
"Oh Kate" I breathed "I'm so glad you're awake! I'm so sorry that I sprung the Aella news on you-"

"I couldn't care less about that!" she hissed.  
"You . . . don't . . . care?" I asked, confused.

"No" she said through her teeth "It's not important, not right now. There's something much more important going on."  
"What is it? What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

"You have to help me."


	29. Help

_**"Help" **_

"What is it?" I asked nervously "What's wrong?"  
Kate's silver eyes darted around the quiet infirmary and she said "Let's talk somewhere more private" she insisted, teeth clenched together.

"Okay" I said, as she pulled me towards a random door. She opened it to reveal an empty and blank infirmary room. She clicked it shut behind us, and then slouched against it. She was breathing deeply, hyperventilating. I was starting to become scared; Kate never freaked out like this. Something had to be seriously wrong. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes feverish, her breathing on the verge of panting.

"Kate, what's wrong? You're scaring me" I said, my voice cracking.  
"I-I'm pregnant" she told me.

Everything seemed to explode in that single second. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Kate? Pregnant!? How could-I mean. I just couldn't comprehend it. There was no way in hell Kate was pregnant. Sure, she might be kind of slutty but . . . I just couldn't imagine her being stupid enough to let that happen! I mean, Kate wasn't cut out to be a mother; she wasn't the mothering type.

"WHAT!?!?!?" I demanded.  
"I'm pregnant" she repeated "I'm with child, I've got a bun in the oven, I'm expecting, I'm having Domingo's baby. . .do I have to spell it out for you!?"

"Are you sure" I asked, my voice a whisper.  
"Yes I'm sure" she snapped, sitting down on the bed, "Would I have an emotional breakdown if I wasn't!?"

I sat down next to her as she buried her face in her hands, "How did this happen" I asked, being as sensitive as possible, "How could you let this happen?"  
"I didn't _let_ this happen" she told me "I didn't let anything happen."

"Then how . . . didn't you guys use protection or something?" I asked.  
"Yes, we used protection" she retorted "But the god damn condom broke. How the hell is that my fault?"

"It isn't" I admitted, and then I wasn't sure what to say or do next.  
"This isn't supposed to happen!" she shouted "I'm not supposed to be a mother-not now. . ."

"What are you going to do?" I asked, knowing that I would support whatever she decided.  
"I'm going to have this baby" she told me, more conviction in her voice then I expected "And I'm going to take care of them, and not care what anyone says."

"But, if your so sure what you're going to do . . . then why did you . . ." I trailed off.  
"I need your help telling them" she said.

"Telling who?" I asked.  
"Everyone. My parents, my brothers, and Domingo . . . oh my God, Domingo is going to lose it" she sighed.

"I'm sure he'll take it better then you expect" I soothed.  
"No he won't" she said, tears beginning to fall from her eyes, "He'll freak. He'll blame himself for putting me through this, you_ know_ him. You know he will."

"We'll calm him down" I promised.  
"Even when he calms down . . ." she ranted "What if he doesn't feel the same way . . . what if he doesn't want to keep it? What if he wants an abortion?"

"Then tell him to suck it!" I exclaimed "This is _your _baby. Is it growing inside _his _uterus? I don't think so. You get final decision on what you're going to do with the baby."  
Kate laughed through her tears, "You always knew how to cheer me up" she mumbled "But, seriously, this is going to be so hard."

"I know" I soothed "But it's going to be okay, we'll get through this, okay?"  
She looked up at me; tears filling her wide silver eyes. She blinked them away.

"Your baby's going to be beautiful" I told her randomly as I looked over her features. Her long silky blond hair, wide silver eyes, porcelain skin, full lips, thin waist. And then I thought of Domingo. Dark hair, tan skin, big muscles, dark eyes. There features were so counter-acting that I was curious to see what a combination of their genes would look like. And then, I realized, I already had an idea. The baby from my vision . . . the one who always changed. Who, last time I saw, had mildly tan skin, big dark eyes, dirty blond hair . . . I wondered if that was their baby. . . Well, _maybe _it was theirs. I mean, in the beginning the baby extremely had blue eyes . . . if that was Domingo and Kate's baby then what the hell was up with that?

"Hey, I think had a vision of your baby" I told her.  
"Really?" she asked, elated.

"Yea, I kept seeing a vision of this baby and I never understood what it meant" I told her.  
"Really, what'd it look like? Was it a boy or a girl?" she asked excitedly.

"I don't know" I admitted "And it's hard to say what they looked like. It keeps changing. Sometimes I see a pale baby with really blue eyes and blonde hair, and sometimes I see a tan baby with dark hair and silver eyes . . . and different combinations of that. And sometimes I see a baby girl, and sometimes I see a baby boy . . . so, I really don't know. But, I do think it's your baby."

"Aw!" she gushed "My baby sounds cute."  
I laughed, "You would say that" I said "Now, are we going to go tell them now?"

She sighed, "I guess. If we tell them before we go home, they won't be able to kill me. There'll be witness . . . and then by the time we're alone, they'll have calmed down a bit."  
"Good idea" I agreed.

"C'mon let's go" she said, sighing and getting up.  
"Alright, you go wait in the first parlor" I said "I'll get the others."

She nodded, sniffed, and disappeared. I sighed deeply, and waited a moment before leaving myself. When I left the room, Kate wasn't outside. So, I went looking for the others. I had no idea where to look though so I randomly stopped Kiron in the hall, he looked startled.

"Hey Kiron" I said "You seen Mrs-I mean Hera anywhere?"  
"Uh-uh no your highness" he stammered, which seemed very non-Kiron to me.

I rolled my eyes, "Why does everyone do that?" I groaned "You don't call Austin your highness or anything."  
"Well, I hung out with him at a party and saved his life" he explained "I just don't feel like he's my superior."

"Well neither am I" I said. "Okay, okay" he said "Sorry . . . but yea, I haven't seen Hera around."  
"Okay, but what about Alex-I mean um Alexanderon- or Vulcan?" I asked.

"Oh yea" he said "I saw Alexanderon in the rec room."  
"Okay thanks, and lay off the your highness crap, okay?" I checked, walking away.

He smiled, "okay." I went downstairs, and asked a random witch where the rec room was. When I lived here the rec room hadn't been apart of the house, so I didn't know where it was. I went into the rec room, which was like a combination arcade and lounge. Alex was sitting on a big plush red couch, with a bunch of witch girls falling all over him. I wasn't surprised, Austin had to learn his player tricks from someone. I walked over to him and stood above him. A pretty redheaded witch with purple tattoos who was running her fingers through Alex's hair glared at me.

"Oh, hey Becca, what's up?" Alex asked, looking up.  
"Kate needs to tell you guys something" I told him "Go find your parents and meet me us in the first parlor." "

Okay" he said "Sorry girls, gotta go." They all whined in protest.  
"Oh, c'mon Alex, stay just a little longer."  
"Yea, please, just a few more minutes."  
"C'mon, I only need a few more minutes."  
"Yea, we could have all sorts of fun in a few minutes."

"Sorry girls" Alex said, detaching himself and getting up, "As appealing as that sounds, and it does sound appealing, I have some business to take care of now. But, I'll take you up on that offer later."

They all whined in complaint as we left the room. Once outside I made a distasteful sound in the back of my throat, referring to his little admirers.  
"Oh, shut up" he muttered.

"Whatever" I said "Just find your parents and meet us in the parlor?"  
"Should I get Austin?" he asked.

"No" I decided "This might be too much for him at the moment. But get Domingo."  
"Okay then" he grumbled as he walked away, "This better be important."

"You won't be disappointed" I muttered as he disappeared. Then, I headed into the first parlor, which was empty except for Kate. She sat on one of the couches, her head in her hands. She looked up when I came in.

"They're on their way" I said, sitting down next to her.  
She nodded numbly and took a deep breath.

"Nervous?" I asked, she nodded.  
"Don't be" I told her "It's going to be okay."

She opened her mouth to say something, but clamped it shut as the door swung open. Mr. and Mrs. Kardigan stepped in, flanked by Alex and Domingo. They all looked wary, except for Alex who looked more annoyed then anything else.

They all came in and settled in the couches. Domingo sat on the other side of the Kate, while the others sat down across from us.  
Alex huffed, "This better be good" he muttered, slouching down in his seat.

Mrs. Kardigan gave him a chiding look and then turned to Kate, "Honey is something wrong? You look kind of pale" she noted.  
I believe she means even paler then usual . . .

"Yes Mom" Kate said "Something is wrong."  
"What is it?" her mother asked, and I noticed that everyone else seemed more worried now. Even Alex sat up straighter and looked wary.

"I'm pregnant."


	30. Sometimes

**Sorry this took sooooo long! But i've been busy and such. Anyway, here you go. Oh, and plz review!**

* * *

_**"Can't Catch A Break"**_

Before anyone else had a chance to react, Mrs. Kardigan hit the floor, literally. She jumped to her feet, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed. Mr. Kardigan was the next one on his feet, but then dropped to his knees next to his wife. So, that left Alex and Domingo as the only one's left to react, and damn did they react.

"Oh my God," Domingo murmered, wrapping his arms around Kate comfortingly.  
"YOU'RE WHAT!?!?!?!?!?" Alex demanded, jumping to his feet in one fluid vampiric motion.

"I am pregnant. With Domingo's baby," Kate repeated, extra slow, as if she was trying to explain something to a small child for the millionth time.  
"I can't believe you!!!!!!!!!!!" Alex screamed, fangs extending in anger.

"Alex, relax," I insisted, "Let's try and be adults about this."  
"Oh shut up," Alex growled, turning on me, "Don't go thinking you're all wise and mature just because you're an incarnate. You're still just a kid."

I made a distasteful sound in the back of my throat, "Excuse me?" I asked in disbelief.  
"You heard me," he hissed, "Now I'm going to have to ask you to leave, your highness. This is a family matter."

"You can't kick me out! This is my house!" I exclaimed.  
"Becca, it's okay," Kate said, "He's right. We need to . . . discuss this in private."

I met her eyes, to see if that was really what she wanted. "You sure?" I asked.  
"Yea," she said, getting up. Domingo got up as well and stayed attached to her side.

"Alright," I said slowly, backing up to the door. I slipped out the door quietly and closed it behind me. Okay, one crisis dealt with (sort of) on to the next: calling my mother (the one who gave birth to me in this life.) She was probably worried about me. . .it was Tuesday (or was it Wednesday?) and someone was supposed to drive me home Sunday night. My original mother (Prima) had probably called her and explained my extended absence, but I still needed to talk to her.

I pulled out my cellphone and dialed my home number. My mom picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?"  
"Mom, hey it's Becca"  
"Oh Becca I've been waiting for you to call! When will you be coming home?"  
"Soon, uh, did you talk to Grandma?"  
"Yes, she told me she was prolonging the visit . . .but when will you be back?"  
"Uh, I'll have someone bring me home tomorrow."  
"Oh wonderful, Lydia will be leaving on Friday, this way you can say goodbye. Besides, school started back up today."  
"It did?"  
"Yes, but it's alright, you never do anything the first day back anyway."  
"True"  
"Yes . . . oh, your father wants to talk to you."  
"Okay, put him on"  
"Alright, see you soon, love you"  
"Love you too"

"Becca?"  
"Hi Daddy"  
"Hi honey, how's your grandmother's?"  
"Good, how are things back home?"  
"Good, you doing okay?"  
"Yep"  
"Good, your sister wants to talk to you"  
"Okay, love you"  
"Love you too"

"Lydia?"  
"Becca, you better get your skinny little but back home before I leave. If I don't see you again before I leave I will be majorly pissed."  
"Okay, okay. No worries. I'll be home tomorrow"  
"Good, so how's it at Grandma's?"  
"Good"  
"Last time I was there the help was really hot. How bout now?"  
"Still hot"  
"Hmm . . . maybe I should visit Grandma's soon . . . "  
"Ha, maybe . . ."  
" . . . . . Oh . . . wait, Jake wants to talk to you"  
"Okay. Put him on."  
"Alright, remember; be home tomorrow or else"  
"Alright, alright. Bye"  
"Bye"

"Becca?"  
"Hey Jake"  
"Hey . . . this is going to sound really random, but is Austin there?"  
"You mean my boyfriend Austin? Why would you even ask that?"  
"He wasn't in school today . . . and neither was Kate"  
"They ditch school a lot"  
"I know, I'm just making sure lover boy didn't sneak up there to see you"  
"Ha, yea Jake, Austin drove eight hours all the way from Buffalo just to see me. Get real"  
"Oh fine, whatever. Ken says hi"  
"Don't you mean he did the head nod thing?"  
"Whatever, see you tomorrow"  
"See you tomorrow"

I hung up the phone. Well that went well. On to the next problem: Vitani. Well, that was bound to be interesting. . . and violent. Sighing, I made my way up the stairs to Vitani's room. The second floor hallway was pretty vacant, but I could hear loud noises coming from Vitani's room. Sighing again, I knocked on the door.

"Whoever you are, and whatever you want, go away!" Vitani screamed from inside.  
"It's me," I said, unsure of why I thought that would make a difference. If anything, it made her less willing to let me in.

"Oh, well in that case . . . go away now!" she shouted.  
"Come on Vitani, let's talk about this," I suggested, "Look, I've got an idea. How about you let me in and let me talk for two minutes, then I'll leave you alone? How about that?"

"I got a better idea. How about you go play in traffic and stay the hell out of my life?" she countered.  
"Come on Vitani. How about-" I was cut off by Deacon's voice calling my name.

"Aella?" he called, appearing at the top of the stairs, a phone receiver in hand.  
"What is it?" I asked.

"Telephone for you," he told me, handing me the phone and disappearing.  
I groaned, "We're not done here," I told Vitani through the door and walked down the empty hallway to get a little privacy.

_"Hello?" _  
_"Hello Aella," _  
_"FAMA!?!?!?!" _  
_"Hush child. Your vexatious wailing may alert the others to the nature of this call. Now go somewhere where you may be alone." _  
_"Okay" _  
_"Are you alone?" _  
_"Yes" _  
_"Are you certain no one can hear you?"_  
_"Yes" _  
_"Are you positive?" _  
_"Yes" _  
_"Where are you?" _  
_"My room" _  
_"Alone?" _  
_"Alone" _  
_"Excellent" _

_"What do you want? How do you know I am Aella?"_  
_"I've always known deary. I was the one to find your blood soaked body in the basement with now wounds. I knew you used a reincarnate spell."_  
_"How did you know I was Aella though?"_  
_"Your mannerisms, your appearence. Since I previously knew of the reincarnate spell, I knew to look for you. I met you in your first life, do you remember me?"_  
_"Yes, your parents brought you and your older brother to meetings with the Council."_  
_"Yes, Adonis. Too bad he's away on business. He would have been simply delighted to see you."_  
_"Shut up Fama, just tell me what you want." _  
_"Just to warn you" _  
_"Warn me about what?"_  
_"That Aurora isn't quite done with you, or Austeralgo. So, you best be on the alert." _  
_"That's all? I already knew she wasn't going to give up." _  
_"Clever, well, good day Aella. I'll be seeing you soon." _

I stared at the phone after the line went dead. I wasn't sure what to think. Fama had called me . . . she had warned me about Aurora. Did that make her on our side? I wasn't sure. And why did she have to bring up Adonis? That was uncalled for. So . . . did that make her against us? Or with us? I didn't get to think about it long. Because, suddenly, I could hear Mr. Kardigan's name calling for me. "Becca? Could you come here for a minute?"

God, could I ever catch a freaking break?_  
_


	31. Shakin' Hands

**Yea ik, Lucy's got some 'splaining to do . . . i really didn't mean 2 take this long . . .but I've been really busy and such. Working on my book and whatever. Anyway, finally, here's a new chapter. Review and maybe I'll update quicker next time. . . just sayin . . .Ik that this is short, but it's better then nothing, right?  
**

**Anyway, enjoy and review! **

* * *

_**"Inquistions" **_

Oh come on . . . This was getting ridiculous. I really didn't want to know what Hera wanted . . . I had a feeling I wouldn't like it though. I walked down the stairs and went back into the parlor. Hera and Vulcan (Mrs. and Mr. Kardigan, whatever. I wasn't sure what to call them anymore) were sitting down on the couch, across from Kate. Domingo was gone and so was Alex, although I didn't understand why. I didn't get why Domingo would leave his pregnant girlfriend alone to defend herself against her parents . . . or why Alex wasn't in here screaming. Unless of course they were outside killing each other.

"Sit," Hera said, sounding just as loving as ever, "We'll try and make this brief."  
"What's this about?" I asked cautiously, sitting down next to Kate, who was looking a little paler then usual (and she was pretty damn pale to begin with) and surprisingly annoyed.  
"After finding out about the situation between Kate and Domingo," Hera said, sounding a little strained, "I just want to make sure that we're not at risk for a similar . . . predicament between you and Austin. . ."

"You want to know if I'm sleeping with your son?" I exclaimed, realizing what she meant by _"at risk for a similar predicament."_She didn't want another grandkid.  
She nodded mutely, looking a little embarrassed.  
I laughed once. "Well, no worries._ I'm _still a virgin. Although, I can't say the same for Austin . . ." I said, realizing that I had just thrown Austin under the bus.

Hera took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment and then said, "We know . . . we were just worried because . . .well, seeing as you are part witch, it is quite possible for you to conceive a child with a Vampire."

"Well, don't worry," I said, feeling a little offended seeing as they didn't trust me, "I'm not shacking up with your son." Hera and Vulcan cringed but Kate laughed.  
"I _told _them," she said, "But they didn't believe me. I mean, if you two were sleeping together you would have totally told me. Even though I wouldn't have wanted to know . . . you know, seeing as he's my brother? My _twin_ brother. But, I know for a fact that you would've told me anyway."

I shrugged. It was probably true. If Austin and I did have sex then I would most likely tell Kate all about it. And then she'd probably claw her ears out.  
"Alright," I said, getting up, "Well, if that's all . . ."

"It's not," Hera said.  
"Of course it's not," I muttered, plopping back down.

"What now?" I asked.  
"We were wondering if you would tell Austin about the baby . . ." she said slowly.  
"Oh you're kidding me!" I exclaimed, "You guys are too scared to tell Austin about Kate's baby so you're asking me to!?"

"You know Austin can be . . . unstable," Hera said, "We're guessing that he'll take it better coming from you."  
"Oh fine," I sighed, "But I'm only doing this because you're right."  
"Thank you," Hera sighed in relief.

"On one condition, you never ask me about my sex life ever, ever again," I told them. It made me a little uncomfortable to say that to my boyfriend's parents . . . but I had to remember that I was technically the same age as them. I had known Hera when she first became a Vampire. I shouldn't be intimidated by them.

"Hey!" Kate exclaimed, putting her hands on her flat stomach, "Don't say the S-E-X word around the baby." I groaned and rolled my eyes. It was going to be a long nine months . . .and then an even longer eternity after that.

"Oh God," I muttered, "Well, I'm off to tell Austin, wish me luck." I left the room, and went back upstairs to the infirmary. I walked into Austin's room to find him awake. He was sitting up in bed, reading the Arthasian chick magazine, _Immortal Kisses. _

"What are you doing?" I asked, semi concerned with my boyfriend reading chick magazines.  
"Reading about my supposed engagement to Aurora," he huffed, throwing the magazine on the floor.

Well, I picked a good time to tell him that his sister's pregnant . . .

"Oh, sorry. You know, the Council's probably not going to make you marry Aurora now . . ." I told him.  
"Don't get my hopes up," he muttered darkly.  
"I'm serious," I said, "I mean, number one, she did nearly kill you."

"Yea, for the third time," he muttered.  
"And number two," I continued, ignoring him, "Since I'm the king's daughter I could probably convince him not to make you go through with it . . ."  
"Even if that did work," he said, "And I'm guessing that it won't, that doesn't mean that Aurora will give up. In case you haven't realized, the bitch is crazy."

Oh, I've realized . . .

"We can talk about that later," I said, "First I need to tell you something."  
"I don't think I like where this is going . . ." he muttered, probably sensing my anxiousness through the bond.

"Yea, well, ummm Kate is pregnant," I said, wincing.  
"WHAT!?!?!?" he demanded, springing up all the way. He didn't get up though. He'd probably just fall back down. Although I could tell he was considering it.

"She-" I began, but was cut off by Attis bursting into the room.  
I was about to yell at him for interupting but he spoke before I got the chance.

"Vitani's gone,"


	32. Bleed It Out

___Sorry it's been so long! I cud make xcuses n tell u about how busy I was, but I don't think i'll bother. Anyway, here's a new chapter, at last. Enjoy and plz review! :)_

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_**"Suicidal"**_

"Son of a bitch!" I exclaimed, heading for the door.  
"Where do you think you're going!" Austin demanded, "You can't just come in here and tell me that my sister's pregnant and leave!"

"Kate's pregnant?" Attis asked.  
"Shhhh," I hissed at him, "That's not important now."  
"What are you talking about!" Austin demanded, "Of course that's important now! My sister's knocked up!"

"Yeah, and my little sister's missing," I said, "Kate will still be pregnant when I get back."  
"Not if I kill her," Austin said, as his hands began to glow a light blue.

"Just stay here and be good," I said, "I'll be back soon."  
"Hey! I'm not being left behind!" he protested.  
"Yes you are," I said, dashing out of the room and slamming the door behind me. I could hear him yelling and shouting, and basically have one of his melt downs, as I Attis and I flew down the stairs.

"C'mon, let's go tell Prima," Attis said.  
"No!" I said, grabbing the collar of his shirt as he made a move for my mom's study.  
"What, why?" he asked.

"She'll make a big thing out of this," I explained, "It'll be much easier if we go find ourselves."  
"Oh fine, but how are we going to find her," he asked.  
"I'll handle it," I said, running down the next flight of stairs and out the front door. Once I was out there, I jumped the fence to the backyard and ran like hell through acres of property until I reached the woods. I knew that Attis was following me, but he'd have to work hard to catch up with me.

As I ran, I worked hard to concentrate on finding Vitani. I'd found that it was hard to make the visions come to me, but if I tried hard enough I could manage. Focusing all my energy on it, I searched the future for Vitani and where she would be in the next few minutes. Eventually I found her, and what I saw made me run even faster.

I pushed my legs to go faster, using a speed spell to try and get there as fast as possible. I prayed that Vitani would wait until I got there before she did it. I was running faster then I ever had in my life. My legs ached, my throat was sore, my breathing was constricted, and I could taste blood in my mouth as I exerted myself more then I ever had before. I was getting closer, I could tell, I knew the area. I was almost there. It wouldn't be long before I found her.

When I was nearly there, I pushed myself even harder. And then I burst through into the clearing. A huge, metal cage with sparks crackling around the bars was in the middle of the snow filled clearing. Standing in the middle of it was Vitani, with a wild look in her eyes. Without pause, and aware of the consequences, I ran right up to the cage and grabbed the bars. Pain exploded in my hands and lightning sparked around the cage.

I jumped back several feet, autmoatically. "Vitani don't do this!" I shouted, running up and grabbing the cage bars again, ignoring the pain.  
"Get away from me!" she shouted, throwing her hands up and causing the sky to blacken and lightning crack.

As the charmed bars burned my hands, pain engulfed them, but I did my best to ignore it. "Vitani, please don't do this," I begged through gritted teeth.  
"Don't tell me what to do!" she screamed, tears streaming down my eyes.

"You don't want to do this," I insisted, "You're overreacting!"  
"Shut up!" she screamed, extending her arm out to touch the bars on one side of her, which intensified the charm on the cage. The electricity pulsing inside of it was amplified and my hands lit up with excruciating pain and I jumped back involuntarily. Panting, I shook my hands out, trying to make the pain go away.

Just then, Attis burst into the clearing. "Vitani!" he shouted, running over to the cage.  
"Attis don't!" I shouted, as he grabbed the cage bars and was electrocuted. He let go and jumped back, looking confused as he starred at his scarred palms.

"I'm done being compared to you!" Vitani shouted, throwing her hands up and causing rain to pour down, "Maybe when I'm reborn my mother will finally love me!"  
"Vitani, _no!" _I screamed, slamming into the bars as volts of electricity were sent into my body. I held back a scream as I desperately tried to get through the bars to my little sister.

"L'offro il mio sangue," she began the reincarnation spell.  
"_No!" _I screamed, trying to get through the bars.

"Inn cambio di è rinato," she continued.  
_"NO!" _I screamed, trying to get a sleep spell to reach her, but the charmed cage kept out any spells.

"Mentre ogni ciclo finisce, un altro inizia," she continued reciting.  
"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" I screamed frantically, as Attis joined me in trying to get through the bars.

"Per favore di concedere il mio desiderio morendo," she said, nearly don't with the spell.  
"NOOOOOOOO!" I shouted.

"L'mentre il sangue versa-" she was cut off, just before the end when Austin burst into the clearing. I couldn't be more shocked, or relieved, to see him. He ran up to cage with vampire speed, pushing me and Attis out of the way, and ripping the bars off the cage and throwing them away.

"Dalle mie-" Vitani tried to finish as Austin grabbed her and put a hand over her mouth. She struggled against him, but I took the opportunity to use a sleep spell on her, now that the cage was gone. Once she was out, the sky cleared.

"Here," Austin said gruffly, handing the tiny Vitani to Attis.  
"Austin! What are you doing here!" I demanded, "You're sick! What are you doing out here!"

He looked sick, but not at the same time. His arm was out of it's sling, but I could tell that it shouldn't be, based on the position it was in. He looked tired and agitated.  
"Saving your little sister's life," he snapped. Through the bond, I could sense that he was pissed at having been left behind. Honestly, I should've known he wouldn't stay back.

"Still," I said, "That wasn't a good idea. How do you expect to get any better this way?"  
"You know, I was kind of expecting a thank you," he said.

Immediately, I latched my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.  
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," I said.

"Now that's more like it," he said, and I laughed.  
"I can't thank you enough," I said, "You saved Vitani's life. She was going to kill herself with a reincarnation spell. She was convinced that our mom didn't love her and that by dieing and coming back she would finally appreciate her. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't gotten here in time."  
"Good thing," he said, "Because if you were all depressed you wouldn't be able to explain to me what the fuck is going on with Kate being pregnant."

Oh damn.


	33. I'm Your's

_**"Cougar" **_

"Uh, I'm going to take Vitani back to the house . . ." Attis jumped in.  
"Okay, we'll be along in a minute," I told him absently. He nodded and ran off.

Austin waited a beat for Attis to disappear into the woods before he spoke. "Now, would you be so kind as to tell me what the hell is going on?" he said through clenched teeth.  
"Why do I have to tell you?" I demanded, "Kate's the one that's pregnant, not me. Ask her."  
"I would," he said tightly, "But once I go within touching distance of Kate I am going to strangle her. And when I'm strangling her, I'd like to know that I knew the whole story before hand."

I sighed. "There's not much to know. Kate's pregnant with Domingo's baby and she wants to keep it," I explained, "That's all there is to know."  
"Good, now join me as I wring my sister's neck," he said, turning around and about to walk out of the clearing.

"Hey, hey, hey, not so fast," I said, stupidly grabbing his arm to try and stop him. And of course, being the incompetent person I am, happened to grab his broken arm. He winced in pain and stopped dead in his tracks. I immediately let go of his arm.

"Oh my God, sorry sorry sorry sorry," I apologized hastily, "Are you okay?"  
"I'm fine," he grumbled, "Now, if you don't mind, I am going to murder my sister."

"Don't move," I commanded when he made a move to leave again, "Go anywhere and I'll twist your broken arm behind your back."  
He glared at me evenly. "You and I both know you won't do that," he said.

"Try me," I challenged.  
"Fine," he grumbled, "If you have something to say then say it. You have exactly sixty seconds before I storm out of here and kill Kate."

"Okay," I said, the words coming out in a rush as I hurried to say them all; he was serious about the whole sixty seconds thing. "Kate's stressed out enough as it is. You screaming at her is only going to make things worse. Plus, you aren't really up to getting into a big fight. You're still sick. You shouldn't even be out here in the freezing cold and you shouldn't have your arm out of the sling either. Now, how about you go back to the house and lie down . . . take a nap. And then after you wake up, if your calmer, then you can go have a nice rational conversation with your sister."

He scowled at me. "Don't talk to me like I'm a child," he hissed, "I am not a child."  
"Well, sorry to break it to you honey, but . . . compared to me? Yeah, you kinda are," I told him, "Collectively, I'm seventy-two years old and you're seventeen. Not to mention that you have a tendency to be a bit childish."

He took a deep breath before answering. "I don't think I like the whole cougar vibe that I'm getting here," he said simply.  
"Oh c'mon," I urged, "What I'm describing here is not a cougar scenario."

"Then what is it? Because a seventy-two year old dating a seventeen year old _sounds _like a cougar scenario to me," he said.  
"You're reading too much into this," I told him.  
"No, you're not reading into this enough," he said, "And quite frankly I don't like being the lion cub to your cougar."

"So what are you saying?" I demanded, "You don't want to be with me anymore because I'm older?"  
He knotted his fingers into his light gold locks, looking down at the ground. "No, no, that's not what I'm saying," he tried to explain, "I want to be with you . . . only you . . . forever. You have to understand that. It's just that I'm not super comfortable with dating a girl fifty five years older then me."

I sighed. "Austin, it's only in theory that I'm fifty five years older then you. Physically, I'm two months younger then you," I said.  
"I know, I know," he said, "But you have to look at this from my perspective. I'm a guy and have a very guy state of mind. It's just pre-programmed into my mind that the guy is supposed to be stronger, taller, older . . . I know that's sexist but I can't help the way I think."

"I get it what you're saying," I said, "But think of it this way, I'm technically older then you . . . but physically I'm two months younger then you."  
"That makes me feel much better," he muttered sarcastically.  
"I know what would make you feel better . . ." I said, smiling mischievously, "Going home."

He smiled. "Yeah, it would."


	34. I Hate Everything About You

_hey guys, srry it's taken me so long 2 update . . . but i actually have a life n i'm busy . . . well, all the time. Schools ending n i couldn't b more xcited . . . i'm going in2 highschool n i'm so totally xcited . . . there's so much going on at the end of the year so . . . i'm real busy . . . Anyway, I'm really proud of this chapter . . . especially since it took me so long 2 come up with this . . . I wrote a completly different chapter first (that kinda sucked) b4 i came up with this idea . . . so enjoy :)  
And plz review :)_

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***Vitani's POV***

"Where am I?" I wondered groggily as I slowly opened my eyes to see my ceiling through the fogginess that still lingered in my sight. I blinked away the fuzziness and slowly pulled myself into a sitting position.

"In your room," Attis' voice said from somewhere near me. I turned to look at Attis where he sat in a chair by the window. I suddenly remembered what had happened before I lost conciseness and I was furious. I was going to kill Becca/Aella/whatever.

"Why did you bring me here?" I demanded, attempting to get up but ultimately failing when I got dizzy and collapsed back against the pillows.  
"Because you were going to kill yourself and Becca told me to," he said plainly.  
"Go away," I whined, kicking and thrashing weakly under the covers that someone had pulled over me.

"No, I'm supposed to watch you," he said.  
"Bite me," I mumbled groggily.  
"As much as I'd enjoy that, I have a feeling you're being sarcastic," he said.

"I am," I muttered, "Now go away."  
"I told you, I can't," he repeated.  
"Go get Athan for me," I whined.

"I'm not leaving," he said, "How do I know you won't kill yourself again."  
"Don't you mean _try _to kill myself again?" I asked groggily, "Because obviously a person can't kill themselves more then once."  
"Oh shut up," he muttered, "And I think Becca would beg to differ."

"Whatever . . . now go get me Athan," I commanded tiredly.  
"No."  
"Get me Athan," I whined, "Or I'll scream."

"No," he repeated.  
I inhaled deeply, building up to a big scream.

"I'll get him later," he said, "He still doesn't know that you tried to kill yourself."  
"Because, and I'm just guessing here, you didn't tell anyone yet and Becca and Austin are off gallivanting in the woods doing God knows what . . ."

"I had to bring you inside; I didn't have time to tell anyone," he defended himself, "And, for your information, Becca and Austin are downstairs yelling at Kate right now."  
"Why are they yelling at Kate?" I asked, getting momentarily distracted.  
"She's knocked up or something," he said dismissively.

"Kate's pregnant!" I exclaimed, seriously distracted by this new peice of gossip, "With who!"  
"Her baby, obviously," he said, rolling his eyes.  
"I meant whose the baby's father you dumb ass," I snapped.

"Oh, that Domingo guy I think," he said.  
"Hmm, scandalous," I decided.

"See? If you were dead you wouldn't get to revel in this gossip," he teased.  
"Shut up Attis," I told him, "Just shut up. You don't make fun of someone for wanting to commit suicide. Seriously, it's like the farthest thing from funny."

"I know, I know," he said, "But I have an excuse; I'm in shock. I mean, c'mon, my ex-girlfriend tried to kill herself. It really makes me see things in a new light. I mean, who knew that I was so amazing that I could cause someone to want to take their own life after I breakup with them."

"That's sooooo _not _funny Attis," I told him, "And by the way, _I _broke up with _you._"  
"Yeah . . . I guess I still don't really get that," he said.  
"Obviously. . . or you would've left me alone by now and moved on," I hinted.

"Not a chance . . . I still have to find out why you broke up with me," he said, flashing an annoyingly stunning smile.  
"It really isn't that hard to figure out Attis," I said through gritted teeth, "You basically tried to rape me, hence, I broke up with you and told you that I never wanted to see you again."

"And here we are today," he said, "So that obviously didn't work out so well."  
"Only because you're annoyingly persistent," I hinted.

"Oh c'mon, you know you still love me."  
"Who said I loved you in the first place," I snapped.

"C'mon, we're perfect for each other. You're aggressive, sarcastic, rude, moody, and obnoxious. _I'm _aggressive, rude, moody, and obnoxious. See? A match made in heaven," he said, smiling as if this was a wonderful development.  
"Bite me fagot," I growled, pushing the blankets off me and getting up. I ignored the fuzzy spots that entered my vision then disappeared and stood up.

"Come on Vittie," he said, using his old oh-so-annoying pet name for me. I used to think it was cute, now it just annoyed the fuck out of me.  
"Leave me alone," I snapped, "I'm going to see Athan."

"Oh no you don't," he said, managing to beat me to the door in my tired state and block it off. "You could go attempt suicide again."  
"I'm over that," I said, rolling my eyes.

"It's been an hour," he said plainly, "People don't just stop being suicidal in an hour."  
"I've never really been suicidal," I snapped, "I just got really upset and caught up in the moment . . . plus the reincarnation thing caught me by surprise."

"Sure, sure," he said sarcastically.  
"I'm going to say this slowly so your tiny boy brain can understand," I said, enunciating every word carefully, "I. Am. No. Longer. Suicidal. I. No. Longer. Want. To. Kill. Myself. Comprende?"

"Hmmm . . . I guess I could let you go," he said, smiling mischeviously, "Under one condition."  
"No I will not preform oral sex for you," I said dully.

"Oh, well never mind then," he teased.  
I almost laughed, but managed not to. "What do you want," I demanded.

"I'll let you go . . . if you kiss me," he said, smirking.  
"I'd first lick a rotting dead cow carcase," I said plainly.

"Oh c'mon Vittie," he said with a mockingly pouty expression, "You weren't this repulsed by me when you gave me a hand job."  
Oh sure . . . bring _that _up.

"Well I hope you remember it," I snapped, "Because you'll probably never have another one."  
"From you? Maybe not . . . but I do expect a kiss from you," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Oh fine! You're a dick, I hope you know that," I growled.  
"I know, I know. Now, c'mon, give daddy some sugar," he teased.

"If you ever refer to yourself as 'daddy' again I will beat you like pinata," I vowed. Seriously though! I have enough father issues as it is . . .  
"Then what do you want me to refer to myself as?" he asked tauntingly.

"I have a few choice names . . . but I'm not going to waste my time listing them; let's just get this over with," I said, attempting to kiss him but realizing that I was too short. I ran into this problem a lot . . .

"Let me give you a hand there Vittie," he said, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close before lifting me off the ground.  
"I hate you," I told him. He just smiled deviously.

I scowled and then winced before kissing him on the lips. I had planned to make the kiss quick, but it really didn't work out that way. I had forgotten what a good kisser Attis was . . . and well, I couldn't help but kiss him a little bit longer. Before I knew it, my arms were wrapped around his neck, my legs wrapped around his waist; anything to keep from falling. His hands, that were at first tangled in my hair, roved along my back, moving to my ass a couple of times.

After God knows how long, we ended up moving over to my bed and collapsing on it, where he pinned me underneath him. The kiss continued for a while longer, I wasn't even sure how long, but at one point we rolled so that I was on top. And once that happened, I managed to get a hold and realize what was going on; this was Attis! I was making out with Attis! I had broken up with Attis. Athan was my boyfriend. I loved Athan, not Attis. . .right?

I broke the kiss and jumped to my feet. He looked up at me and, for a split second, I couldn't help but think about how gorgeous he looked. His blonde hair, which was lit up gold by the sunlight streaming in from my window, was adorably mussed. His tan skin had a healthy glow like some kind of lagona beach God. Through his white t-shirt I could see the outline of his amazing abs and I could remember the way they felt under my hands. The top of his boxers peaked out from underneath his loose jeans and his long legs were stretched out across my bed. His gorgeous face stared up at me expectantly, looking uncharacteristically sweet and vulnerable. His jade green eyes bore into my, looking oddly innocent.

"Don't you dare tell anyone about this," I snapped, trying to advert my eyes, "Especially Athan."  
"No worries," he said, not sounding sarcastic or overly confident or anything, just sincere, "It'll be our secret."

I growled angrily, even though he was being oddly nice.  
"Ugh! I hate you!" I screamed, because I was just kind of angry in general at the time.

"Love you too Vittie," he said simply, still not being sarcastic, as I stormed out and slammed the door behind me, leaving him alone in my room. Even though, I probably should've made him leave instead of letting him stay in my room. Knowing him he'd probably go through my underwear draw. The little perv. I really did hate him.

Or, at least I was pretty sure I did.


	35. Fight For All The Wrong Reasons

_I realize that i take 4ever 2 update nowadays . . . but im busy all the time! Anyway back to **Becca's POV **I'm pretty pleased with this chapter; i find it rather amusing. I'll try 2 update faster . . .but u gotta review? deal?_

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**_"Sibling Rivalry" _**

"Bye Mom," I said, hugging Prima (my first mom), "I'll come visit next weekend, I promise."  
"Okay honey, I love you," she said, slowly letting go, "I'll see you on Saturday."

Next I moved on to Vitani, who was standing next to her mom and Athan, and hugged her. "Try to stay out of trouble, okay?" I told her.  
"In other words, I'm not allowed to attempt suicide again?" she checked. I noticed Prima wince out of the corner of my eye. She'd been told about Vitani's efforts to kill herself and how she supposedly was over that and how she had apparently just got swept up in the moment. Still, everyone was still pretty worried about her.

"Yeah basically," I said, releasing her. I moved on to Athan, whom I didn't know very well but still really liked. He was good for Vitani.  
I hugged Athan gently, being cautious of all the injuries he'd suffered recently. He was back on his feet but I still didn't want to hurt him.

"You be good to her now," I told him.  
"I will," he promised as we pulled apart. He was the last person I'd thought I had to say goodbye too. I'd said a very awkward goodbye to Zephorous (my other dad) and the rest of the Council when they left the night before. I'd also already said goodbye to all my other new friends.

"Okay, well, I'll see you all on Saturday," I said, turning to leave. The others were waiting in the car and I didn't want to make them wait any longer.  
"Wait," a voice called and I spun around to see Attis jogging down the stairs. He was pulling a grey t-shirt over his pale torso and looked like he had just gotten up.

"Don't think you're leaving without saying goodbye to me," he said and I was surprised that I felt the need to hug him like the others.  
"Of course not," I said, hugging him, "I'm happy to say that you're not nearly as annoying as I thought you were."

"Why thank you," he said sarcastically, pulling back from the hug.  
"Okay, well I'll see you all next week," I said, heading for the door, "Try not to go crazy with boredom without me."

"Oh I think we'll find some way to amuse ourselves," he said, giving a sly look to Vitani and winking; being his usually perverted self I assumed. Vitani snorted and looked away.  
"Okay then," I said, "Bye."

They all called goodbyes as I headed out the door. In the driveway, Hera, Vulcan and Alex were getting into Vulcan's mustang; which is what he must've driven up here in. I noticed Domingo and Kate sitting in the front seat of the crossover. I figured Austin was in the back and decided to go with them.

I climbed in the back and found Austin. He appeared to be sulking, as he had been since he'd gotten into a fight with Kate about the pregnancy. He had his headphones in and I guessed that he would've crossed his arms if one of his arms wasn't still in a sling. Kate looked back at me as I closed the door and buckled up.

"Hey Becca," she said, twisting around in her seat to look at me, "Ready to go back to boring old Cold Springs?"  
"Cold Springs hasn't been boring in months," I informed her.  
"True," she agreed, "Although, I have a feeling things are gonna be pretty tense around my house. Not to mention that I know that Mr. Immature is going to put forward an extra effort to make my life hell for a while."

"I can read your lips dumb ass," Austin muttered, pulling out his headphones.  
"Oh shut up Blood Donor," she said flippantly.

"Fuck off whore," he growled in response.  
"You're such a dick," Kate retorted.

"You know an awful lot about dicks, now don't you Katie?" Austin snapped.  
"And you spend a lot of time getting yours sucked, now don't you Aussie?" she countered.

"Fuckin cunt," he snarled.  
"You've got alot of experience with those now don't you, man whore?" Kate hissed venomously.

"Opposed to you whose just a regular old whore?" he asked.  
"Why don't you just go to Arthasia and go back to being Aurora's sex toy?" she snapped.

I considered stopping their fight, but honestly I just found it rather amusing. Sure, they were going at each others throats but I'd heard them say worse things to each other. If it got to a point where I thought they might _actually _start clawing out each others throats, _then _I'd break it up. But for now, I was having too much fun. Although, I was surprised Domingo was letting it go on this long, especially since Kate was being insulted left and right. He probably figured she could hold her own; plus, she had kinda started this fight by unnecessarily calling Austin a Blood Donor.

"And why don't you go roll around in the mud Blood Mutt?"  
"Only if you go back to being Aurora's little pet," Kate growled, "I'm sure she wouldn't punish you too severely for running away again."

"I thought living with you _was _my punishment."  
"Would that mean that letting Aurora drink your blood is a reward?" she retorted.

"Yeah, a reward for going this long without getting a girl pregnant," he snarled, "Looks like Domingo failed that test."  
If Domingo was the confrontational type, he'd probably take offense to that. But, I was willing to bet that Kate would defend him quite nicely, and he probably knew that.

"Which reminds me, there was a letter for you from the free clinic in the mail," Kate countered, "Looks like you failed a test too."  
"Just like how you failed those pregnancy tests," Austin snapped.

"Please Austin, if you were a human then you'd have like twenty kids."  
"And if you weren't a vampire you'd have every STD known to man."

"And if you weren't a jackass you'd still be a huge douche bag."  
"And if you weren't a whore then you'd still be a huge slut."

"It must run in the genes, man hoe."  
"Hmmm I'm surprised you know anything about genes," Austin countered, "Considering that you spent all of biology in the broom closet studying what was down your boyfriends pants."

"Says the guy who got laid under the bleachers in the middle of the day."  
"Says the girl who has more frequent fucker miles then a cheap hooker."

"Domingo," Kate said calmly, "Pull over. I think Becca needs to give her lion cub a spanking; he's getting out of line."  
"Okay okay," I said, finally stepping in before Austin stabbed her, "That's enough you two."

"Becca's right," Domingo agreed, "I'm not listening to your banter for the next eight hours."  
Both Austin and Kate grumbled to themselves, not pleased with being denied the chance to argue.

"None of this would've happened if your girlfriend wasn't such a bitch," Austin muttered under his breath.  
"That's enough Austin," Domingo said authoritivly.

"Haha," Kate mocked, her fingers in the shape of an 'L' on her forehead, "Suck it Blood Donor."  
"You too Kate," Domingo said, "You both need to cut it out. You're brother and sister; now apologize."

Austin sighed. "Fine. Kate, I'm sorry . . . sorry that you're such a big slut"  
Kate made a face of outrage. "And I'm sorry that you're such an easy man whore!" she exclaimed.

Domingo groaned, "That's not what I meant," he muttered under his breath as the two of them really started going at. They were both yelling and shouting over each other; so loud that it was impossible for either of them to hear what the other one was saying. It was just like when we'd confronted Kate about the pregnancy yesterday.

"HEY!" I shouted deafeningly over their screaming. They both stopped momentarily and stared at me blankly for a second before starting up again, even louder. I sighed; I hadn't wanted to do this. I conjured sleep and sent it both their ways. Austin stopped talking immediately and his eyes slowly closed as he leaned back against the seat; I had a feeling he would have less resistance, he was still sick. Kate went quickly too. Her words slowed down and quieted as she realized that Austin was asleep and that she would soon join him.

"Oh . . . you bitch," she mumbled, looking at me accusingly before closing her eyes and slumping down in her seat.  
"Thank you," Domingo said.

I laughed. "I had no other choice," I said, "I thought they were going to try and rip out each others throat. And that wouldn't go well . . . considering that Kate's pregnant and Austin has a broken arm and three broken ribs."  
"Although I'd be curious to see who'd win," he mumbled.

I laughed. "It would be interesting. . . dangerous and irresponsible . . .but interesting."  
He laughed too. "Well, sit back and relax Becca," he said, turning on the radio, "We've got a peaceful eight hours ahead of us."

Whoope.

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**Inspire me 2 update faster w/ more reviews! :)**


	36. Breath

_Very pleased w/ the response 2 my last chapter . . . every1 is begging me 2 have Austin n Becca have sex already . . . which i wud find creepy if it wasn't 4 the fact that i wasn't just as perverted . . . anyway it'll be comin up soon . . . after Austin gets better. Anyway, that'll be soon . . . as u can c, I changed the rating 2 M . . . just in case . . ._

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When I woke up the next morning, it felt weird to be lieing in my own bed. I'd had such surreal experiences the past few days that anything that was even relativly normal seemed completly out of place. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle going back to school. Not that I was exactly happy to be going back to school, I was exshausted.

I hadn't been able to sleep for most of the eight hour car ride, I was just to excited to be going home and to see my family again. Kate had slept for half of the ride and then woken up to yell at me for putting a sleeping spell on her, but she got over it quickly and was soon yapping at me and flirting with Domingo. Austin however slept the entire ride. Despite how hard he'd tried to act like he was perfectly fine, I knew that he was beat tired and sick as a dog.

When I'd gotten to the house it'd been past eleven, I'd said goodbye to Kate and Domingo, and kissed a sleeping Austin on the forehead. When I'd gone inside, my entire family had been awake, except for Jake who was passed out on the couch. I'd hugged them all and kissed them; I missed them terribly and they missed me more then I'd expected. While I was hugging them and telling them how much I missed them when I thought of something. My entire family, aside from my dad, had witch blood in them and therefore had the power to live forever. They even had the power to make others lived forever; like my dad. They didn't even know it though. Didn't they have a right to know about their witch powers? I mean, it would completly change their lives.

I wasn't sure what to do on that situation; tell them and spoil their blissfully ignorant lives, or I could give them chances and knowledge they never dreamed possible. It was a really difficult descion, one I'd have to give a lot of time and talk to Austin about, but figured it could wait for now. I said goodnight to them all and went to bed. When I woke up I was completly beat, felt disoreiented by the normality, but also very relaxed back into the normal swing of things.

I'd gotten dressed in skinny jeans, a 'Skillet' t-shirt under a black hoodie with a big skull across the front, and done my eyeliner. Once I brushed my teeth and hair and had my bag, I was ready to go. When I went down for breakfest, Lydia and Ken were eating breakfest while my mom cooked.

"Morning," chirped Lydia. I wondered vaguely why she was up this early; damn morning person.  
"Morning," I mumbled, sitting down in front of my plate of blueberry pancakes; my mom had promised to make me them as a little welcome home surprise.

"Did you sleep well?" my mom wondered.  
"Yeah . . . Where's Jake?" I wondered as I poured syrup over my pancakes.  
"Sleeping. I think he picked up a cold," she told me, "I'm keeping him home from school today."

"Oh okay," I said, digging into my pancakes. Lydia, my mom, and I talked casually about things I did on my trip (most of which were lies) while Ken was pretty quiet as always. Once I was done, I picked my bag off the floor, and dropped my dish in the sink.

"I'm going over to the Kardigan's," I told my mom.  
"Oh? Austin's not picking you up?" she wondered.  
"No," I said and heard Lydia curse under her breath behind me, "He broke his arm . . . in a-uh snowboarding accident over the break. He can't drive."

"Oh . . . I didn't know that," she mumbled.  
"Yeah well, I better go, him and Kate will be waiting for me," I said, and I realized that eventually I'd have to tell my family that Kate was pregnant. Sure, it'd be a hell lot worse if I had to tell them _I _was pregnant, but still. Kate was my best friend but if my parents thought that she was a bad influence they'd have a problem with the two of us hanging out so much, afraid that she'd 'rub off on me.' Parents always thought stuff like that.

"Okay, bye honey," she said, "Love you."  
"Love you guys too," I said as I was heading out the door, "See ya."

I walked through the chilly, mildly dark, January morning. When I got to the Kardigan's, it was chaos once again. The guys (Ralph, Diablo, Jupiter, and Mars) and then of course Tora, had stopped bording with the Kardigan's for a while at that point, but the second I walked into the house I knew that they were all back again. I heard bickering and laughing and taunting; the guys were definetly back.

When I walked into the kitchen, the whole place was in full swing. Mrs. Kardigan was cooking breakfest and Tora was helping her. Domingo was sitting in a kitchen chair that was pulled away from the table with Kate perched on his lap and his arms around her waist. Mars and Jupiter were sitting at the table, arm wrestling. I didn't understand why until I noticed that there was only one peice of bacon left on the table. Diablo and Ralph were also sitting at the table; Diablo was drinking a glass of what was obviously blood and Ralph was drinking coffee.

"Hey guys," I said, aware that everyone was probably here because of Kate's pregnancy.  
"Hey Becca," Jupiter said, looking up from his arm wrestling match, "Oh I mean, your highness, Princess Aella."

"Bow before the princess you peasant!" Mars commanded mockingly, and the two indetical twins went down on their knees and started bowing before me.  
I rolled my eyes and snorted. "Dorks," I muttered.

While they were bowing, Ralph reached over and stole the last peice of bacon.  
"Look what you did now you losers," I said, grabbing a donut out of the box on the counter, "Ralph took your last scrap of bacon, sucks for you, you freakin scavangers."

"What!" they both exclaimed, scrambling to their feat and pouncing on the table.  
"You bastard!" Mars shouted.  
"Let's kill him," Jupiter said as they both converged in on him.

"Boys boys boys," Mrs. Kardigan interupted, "Relax. I'm making more bacon right now."  
"Alright!" Mars cheered.  
"Yes!" Jupiter seconded.

"Boys," Mrs. Kardigan laughed indulgently, shaking her head slowly.  
"Now you know what it's like for me everday," Tora mumbled.

I laughed and was going to chill in the kitchen with everybody for a little while, figuring that Austin was upstairs getting dressed or something, but when Kate started feeding Domingo and the two of them got all mushy I figured I was better off finding Austin and getting the hell out of there.

"Uh where's Austin?" I asked to nobody in particular.  
"In the living room, on the phone," Mrs. Kardigan told me.

"On the phone?" I asked, "With who?"  
"King Zephorous."  
"What? Why?" I demanded.

"He's trying to get Austin to schedule another meeting with the Council," she said with an eye roll.  
"Ew, those bastards," I muttered, not worried about cursing in front of Mrs. Kardigan, "Let me go see what's going on."

I went into the living room to find Austin on the phone, pacing back and forth. He had a black t-shirt on and a brown leather jacket slung over his shoulders. He had only one of his arms in his jacket, the broken one didn't go into the jacket, it was just draped over his shoulder. He was arguing on the phone.

"For the milionth time no . . . Okay, if I had any doubts before then now it's a definite _no_, no way in hell . . . I'm serious, no . . . Don't tell me what to do Zephorous; I don't care if your the king, I'm the prince, big whoope de doo . . . I'm not a child Zephorous, I can think for yourself . . . no I will _not _put my mom on the phone . . . Because I'm not a little kid, that's why! . . . I'm not putting Kate on either . . . Because she doesn't want to talk to you! . . . I do not know! . . . Mhm . . . Stop trying to bribe me . . . Yeah, most people consider a new car a bribe Zephorous . . . Yeah, that's a bribe too . . . Well, I don't _want _a Lambirgini!"

I snickered to myself. Seriously, what kind of person bribes a seventeen year old with a Lambirgin?

"Yes it is possible to not want a Lambirgini . . . Because I already have a car! . . . But I don't want a new car! . . . Besides, I can't even drive it! . . . Because my arm is broken! . . . Yeah, remember? Princess Aurora snapped it? That crazy bitch you want me to marry? Yeah her . . . No of course I'm not being sarcastic."

He covered the receiver with his hand and gave me a 'this guy is such a dumbass' look and making the 'crazy' hand motion before going back to the conversation.

"Yeah I'm still here . . . Look Zephorous, I'm gonna be late for school . . . Of course I'm still in highschool! I'm only seventeen! . . . Yeah, for another year and a half . . . I get straight A's, what's it to you! . . . Look you didn't call to ask me about my grades . . . Well I don't want to talk about that either! . . . C'mon it's my first day back and I'm gonna be late! . . . But-but I . . . I'm gonna be late . . . I'm-look-I . . . Okay! Dude, seriously, _I have to go_. Okay? Bye."

He hit the 'end' button and tossed the phone onto the couch. I snickered at him having called the king of the Azimon _dude. _  
"That guy drives me crazy," he muttered, hugging me with his one good arm and kissing me on the head.

"What did he want anyway?" I wondered, wrapping my arms around his torso and pulling myself close to him, being extra gentle; cautious of his broken ribs.  
"Oh he wants me to come to a Council meeting on Friday," he said, rolling his eyes, "To discuss you actually."

"Ugh, my dad is such a douche," I muttered, rembering all the times he'd told me 'no' or lectured me back when I was Aella.  
"First off, I find that both creepy and hysterical. And second off, 'daddy' wants you to come to the meeting on Friday," he told me.

"Really!" I exclaimed, "Yes!"  
"Wait-are you _excited_ about this?" he demanded.  
"Of course I am! I get to go talk with the Council! I used to hate it when my dad made me go-but getting to go with you is awesome! That way, if Odysseus screws with you I can like-set him on fire!"

He laughed. "Could you perhaps push him in front of a bus?" he suggested.  
"Huh?" I asked.  
"Just one of the fantasies I come up with when I'm tuning out Council meetings?"

"What else do you think about?" I purred, nuzzling the side of his neck.  
"Mostly you . . . wearing little to no clothing . . . Oh, and one time I imagined you and Aurora fighting in a kiddie pool full of jello!" he said, "It was awesome!"

Instead of getting annoyed like I was tempted to do, I said, "Did I win?"  
"What?" he asked, seeming surprised that I wasn't freaking. Austin wasn't stupid-just impulsive-after he'd said that he probably imagined I would get pissed.

"Did I win?" I asked, "In your fantasy fight between me and Aurora."  
"You did of course," he said, "Duh."

I laughed. "C'mon, let's go to school," I said.  
"Ugh," he moaned.  
"What?" I asked.

"I can't drive," he grumbled, "Which means that you have to drive my car."  
"Oh relax you big baby," I taunted, "Nothings going to happen to your prescious car."

"Can't we just ride with Kate and Domingo?" he begged, "He's gonna give her a ride anyway."  
"No," I said, pulling out of our embrace and spinning around in a twirly circle before tapping him on the nose patronizingly, "I _like _the Maserati."

"God damn it," he growled.  
I laughed. "C'mon, let's get out of here," I said, heading into the kitchen.

It was crazy in there, loud and hot. Mrs. Kardigan was trying to ask Austin how his conversation with Zephorous went, but it was hard to understand her over the chaos.  
"I'll tell you later Mom," he said, kissing her on the cheek as I grabbed his keys off the table, "Love you."

"Love you too," she said, "Be careful."  
"We will!" I called, grabbing Austin's hand (the one on his good arm) and leading him to the car. I wondered vaguely who had driven the Maserati back from the airport up north but didn't care enough to ask. We both got in and I started driving.

"I'm really not looking forward to this," he mumbled.  
"What? Going back to school?" I asked.

"Yeah . . . first off, I'm gonna get totally grilled by my friends for ditching yesterday and showing up with a broken arm and three broken ribs," he explained, "Plus eventually everyone's gonna find out that Kate's pregnant."

"Good point," I said, "But they don't need to know yet."  
"I guess," he mumbled.

"It'll be fine," I promised. "People are going to harrass her," he said quietly.  
"No they won't," I told him, "You won't let them, I won't let them, and if Domingo hears about anyone screwing with him you know he'll be knocking some skulls."

"I guess," he mumbled, "I'm just worried."  
"It's okay," I soothed, putting a comforting hand on his knee.

"Ten and two, ten and two," he told me. I stuck my tongue out at him and put both my hands back on the wheel; he was so protective of the damn car.  
"I have something I need to talk about with you," I said randomly.

"What?" he asked, seeming concerned. "Well you know how my moms a witch and all? And my brothers and my sisters have witch blood in them too? Well do you think I should tell them?" I asked, "Because part of me feels like they deserve to know the truth . . But at the same time, I don't want to screw things up for them."

"I think you should tell them," he said immediatly.  
"Why?" I asked.  
"Because, you and I wouldn't be as happy as we are now if you didn't know you were a witch," he said, "I mean, we'd find a way to be together no matter what . . . But you being a with makes everything easier."

"I see your point," I agreed, "But I don't know, I gotta think about it."  
"Okay," he mumbled.  
"Oh look, we're here," I said, pulling into the parking lot.

"Damn."

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_question, shud the sex scene between austin n becca b vivid like lemons or like describing up 2 it n then skipping ahead 2 wen it's over? not sure wat 2 do 4 that .. . . leave a review n let me no!_


	37. Monster

_I think I'm getting back in2 the swing of things here . . . i'm trying 2 maintain a more consitant updating schedule . . . every couple of days is okay, right? It's not as marvelous as my past updating every day thing . . . but it's a start . . . it's just that i'm busy all the time now; working on my book . . . plus my social life as actually picked up the pace a bit-since i tend 2 blow ppl off 4 wiritng a lot. . . but now i've decided i need more balance . . .so wen i'm invited 2 go out, i go out-of course that cuts in2 my updating time but wat can u do? _

_Oh, n P.S. this chapter turned out SOOO different then xpected. U c, wen i write i never no where i'm going with each chapter . . . i think thats y ppl like this story so much . . . bcuz all the events kinda flow in2 each other . . . cuz i never really force events 2 happen bcuz I don't even know whats going 2 happen next . . . it just happens. Anyway, enjoy n plz review! :)_

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_**"Hate" **_

Once I parked I noticed Austin's friends waving us down from a distant. He rolled his eyes dramatically at them as I turned the car off and got out. Austin had managed to open the car easily, but even he couldn't fake that getting up was a bit of a challenge. I went over to his side to help him up and he glowered at me. I rolled my eyes as I hunched over and wrapped my arm under his arms and helped him get to his feet without hurting his side. Once he was up, I knew he would insist on me letting go so I did. But once I did he just wrapped his unbroken arm around my shoulders and led me up to where his friends were converged.

"Whoa, what the fuck happened to you?" Jason asked Austin.  
"Snowboarding accident," he said nonchalantly; we had worked out our alibi ahead of time, "I wiped out and broke my arm and three of my ribs."

"_Wow, _nice job dumbass," Kyle said, "And what happened to you Becca? Where were you the past few days?"  
"I was staying up at my grandmothers this weekend," I said, "I was supposed to get back Monday . . . but I got so wrapped up there, hanging out with my cousin Vitani and her friends that my mom said I could stay a few extra days."

"Oh cool," Nick mumbled.  
"Yeah, you know, since you guys were both missing the past two days we were starting to get suspicious," Bonnie teased.

I laughed but stopped short when I saw her. Lisa. No longer slutty, ditzy, fun-loving Lisa M. Now she was evil, scheming, back-stabbing Lisa M. I could barely stand to look at her as she strode over towards us. I used to think she looked completely innocent with her lagona beach tan, bleach blonde hair, and big brown eyes. But now, I payed more attention, and noticed how the way she walked was almost like a Vampire or a werewolf; like she was stalking something. I also noticed how her large eyes followed everything, cataloging every movement. That day she wasn't wearing her usual mini skirts or heals or low cut tank tops; she was wearing jeans, sneakers, and a skin tight red top. I could tell by her attire and the look in her eyes, she'd come looking for a fight.

"You bitch!" I screamed the second she was within ten feet of me. I'd forgotten where I was and that I hadn't told anybody that Lisa was really a Shadow Slayer, and just went completly on instinct. I was so mad at her; she'd betrayed us. I couldn't stop myself; I was going to make her pay.

I ran forward, going a little faster then the average human, and tackled her to the hard ground. We both slid across the black top, and once we stopped she kicked me in the stomach, hard, to make me get off her. The blow caused me to lose my grip on her shoulders and she rolled out from under me. She got back to her feet and so did, as people began gathering, chanting 'fight, fight, fight.' I could see Austin flipping out on the sidelines, with Domingo holding him back by his good arm. I figured that Domingo had just gotten here; after dropping off Kate and saw what was happening. But I didn't have a lot of time to think about that, because Lisa came at me then.

I'd been in fights before-lots of fights-but only a few with human girls. Like when I'd fought Tasha-we'd just rolled around and kicking each other and pulled each other's hair. This was different-Lisa was a fighter and so was I. It was bound to be interesting.

Lisa did an uppercut kick and nearly kicked me in the jaw. But I dodged it and landed a punch in her face. We sparred like that for a minute or so-no teachers coming to break up the fight yet- doing martial art moves you wouldn't expect seventeen year old girls to know. Nobody expected it either when Lisa pulled a knife on me. Out of her pocket she pulled out a small dagger and grinned maliciously.

She swung it at me with expertise, nearly piercing me in the chest. A showy move saved my life-I did two back flips to get away from her. When the knife came out that's when people started flipping out. I could hear Austin screaming at Domingo to let him go-I could hear Kate screaming too. Actually, people were screaming everywhere, yelling and shouting for someone to do something.

After my two flips, I was about ten feet from Lisa. She still had her knife and was about to come after me again. She came running and I prepared to fight her again-except she never made it because she was tackled from the side. I didn't know who it was until I saw Ken pinning Lisa to the ground. I couldn't believe that Ken had done that-it was something I would expect from Jake but not Ken.

Lisa was squirming underneath him, her knife lieing a few inches from her hand. When I saw her look slyly back and forth between me and the knife, I knew what she was going to do.  
"KEN!" I screamed, running towards them as Lisa kicked him in the stomach, causing him to lose his grip but not release her fully. When given a little opportunity, she wriggled her hand away to grab her knife.

And then she stabbed him.

When the knife went into his stomach, I was sure Jake could hear my scream it all the way back home. "KEN!" I screeched, my screams thundering over all the other screams that had started when Ken got stabbed. I ran as fast as I could- pushing and shoving past the people who were rushing around- to get to them.

Lisa had pushed Ken off her after she stabbed him. He rolled over onto his back as blood soaked his shirt. His face was shocked and he was struggling to breath. Lisa smiled at him cruelly and got to her feet. The second she was up, that's when I got there. With a horrendous scream of unimaginable hate, I crashed into her, the force knocking both of us to the ground and causing her to drop her knife.

"YOU FUCKIN BITCH!" I screamed, grabbing her hair and slamming her head repeatedly into the black top. I wasn't fucking around anymore-I was so angry I could kill her-I would kill her. I grabbed her shoulders and shook her like crazy-too angry to even be surprised that she was still conscious. She kicked me in the stomach to try and get me to let go but I held on extra tight.

"YOU MOTHER FUCKIN BITCH!" I screeched, "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"  
I summoned fire, not giving a fuck about the panicking humans around me-and felt my palms heat up as I secured my hands around her arms. She started screaming when my red glowing palms started burning her.

She screamed like she was being murdered-her screams made me glad. I was going to make her suffer. A painless death wasn't good enough for her - she needed to suffer. She needed to feel like pain like she'd never felt before. She needed to pay - she would pay, I would make sure of it. If it was the last thing I ever did, I'd make her pay.

"I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL YOU FUCKIN BITCH!" I shouted over her screams, "I HOPE YOU SUFFER!"  
"Make it stop!" she begged, struggling underneath me, "Please make it stop!"

If I hadn't been so crazed with rage, I'd have felt sorry for her. I was always a sucker for mercy, but there would be no mercy for her. She would pay for what she did to Ken.  
"YOU SHOULD'VE THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE YOU STABBED MY BROTHER YOU MOTHER FUCKIN BITCH!" I screamed, the heat of my palms growing with my rage.

With the heat intensifying, Lisa started screaming even more. I smiled with malicious pleasure as her agonized screams filled my ears.  
"DO YOU FEEL THAT LISA!" I demanded, "DO YOU FEEL IT!"

She continued screaming, and I decided that I wanted her to scream more - to feel more pain. I cranked up the heat, as hot as I could get it.  
"HOW DOES IT FEEL LISA!" I screamed, "HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THE VICTIM!"

Just as I was about to really turn up the heat, strong hands were suddenly pulling me off of Lisa. I struggled against them - tightening my grip on Lisa's arms. She screamed even louder as my nails dug into her burned skin.

"Becca! Becca!" a fammilar voice called, but I didn't care. I could only focus on one thing - killing Lisa, making sure Lisa suffered.  
"Becca, let go!" the voice called again.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed as the strong hands jerked me up. My nails scraped across Lisa's burns as the hands pulled me off her. Once I was back on my feet, someone started dragging me away from her. I screamed and thrashed - desperate to get back to her - to cause her more pain.

"LET ME GO!" I shouted at my captor, "LET ME GO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO! I'M GONNA KILL HER!"  
When I looked at Lisa all I felt was hate. When I saw the blood in her hair all I felt was malicious pleasure. When I saw the tears running down her face all I felt was sick joy. When I saw the burns in the shape of my hands on her arms, all I felt was pride. I was responsible for causing this murderer of countless innocents so much pain - for making her suffer. Justice was nearly served. But not quite. She still needed to die for what she'd done.

"Becca!" the voice of my captor called, "Becca calm down!"  
"!" I screeched, "LET! ME! GO! YOU BASTARD!"

"Becca, it's me, Domingo," my captor's voice came again and I realized that the voice had sounded like Domingo. Whatever. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered but killing Lisa.  
"LET ME GO!" I screamed, closing my eyes as I thrashed relentlessly, as I heard sirens nearing.

"Becca," came an extraordinarily familiar voice. So familiar that I'd remember it anywhere. Austin. I opened my eyes and saw him standing in front of me, blocking my view of my target, Lisa. He looked horribly concerned and panicked.

"Move Austin," I growled lowly, "Don't make me hurt you."  
"Becca, stop, it's okay," he attempted to sooth me. But nothing could soothe me now.

"MOVE!" I screamed, using a telepathy spell to physically push Austin out of the way. He slid several feet away, looking confused. He tried to come back, but I had put up a forcefield around him, preventing him from getting close to me. I loved Austin, more then anyone else in the world. But I hated Lisa more then anyone else in the world. I was going to kill and I wasn't going to let anything stand in my way. I needed Austin out of the way, where I wouldn't have to hurt him.

I looked over at him, where he was trapped inside my forcefields, He was banging on the invisible wall, yelling my name, "Becca! Becca wait!" I had forgotten about my magic in my rage. I'd forgotten I could use it to get back to Lisa. So, using a fire spell, I heated up my arms, so hot that Domingo was forced to let go. The second he released me, I ran forward, heading for where Lisa was lieing on the ground. People were crouched around her - but I was prepared to go through anyone to get to her.

I crashed into something though - something I couldn't see. And once that happened, everything went black for a brief second. I still felt anger like you couldn't imagine, but I felt a little different. Like something was missing. I ignored it and focused on killing Lisa as my eyes flashed open.

"Aella," said my mother (Prima) who was now standing in front of me all of sudden, blocking my way to Lisa. I was prepared to push past her to get to Lisa, but strong hands grabbed me from behind again - Domingo. I concentrated on fire, planning to heat up my arms again, but nothing happened. I tried harder and still nothing. I was confused, and got even more confused when I saw Austin approaching me - he shouldn't have been able to get through my forcefield.

"What did you do!" I demanded of my mother. I knew she must've of done something.  
"I turned off your magic," she said plainly.  
"HOW DARE YOU!" I screamed, "YOU BTICH! I _NEED _TO KILL HER!"

"It's for your own good," she said simply, "You'd regret it later."  
"I regret _nothing,_" I snarled dangerously, as another set of arms joined Domingo in restraining me. Each grabbed one arm to prevent me from escaping.

My mother sighed and moved out of my way as my captors began pulling me back. I continued struggling as I heard Austin and my mother talking as Domingo dragged me away. Now that my mother was out of the way, I could see Lisa again, which sparked my already heated temper. She was surrounded by figures in long dark purple cloaks with the hoods up and I knew that they worked for my mother. No longer surrounded by humans, Lisa was dragged away by one of the cloaked figures. The rest of the cloaked figures followed as they pulled her into the woods behind the parking lot, but one lingered, the smallest; Vitani. I couldn't see her face with the hood up, but I knew it was her. I could only see her lips, which weren't smirking like they usually were, and not her eyes. But I still knew she was looking at _me_. She only nodded slowly before disappearing into the woods with the others.

Even with Lisa out of sight, my anger still lingered, but I was out of a target. I looked around the parking lot, still struggling, and found that the entire place was chaos. (No wonder nobody had really noticed my episode) People were running around, people were shouting and yelling. It seemed like the entire school was gathered. Cop cars were all over the place and so were cops. A bunch of uniformed officers were looking around - searching for something or maybe someone. One picked up Lisa's bloody dagger and placed it in a clear bag. Others were interogating teachers and students. A boy was being loaded into an ambulance, and it took my mind (blurred with anger) a second to realize that it was Ken. I screamed then - louder then any of the other noises around.

A couple dozen people looked up at the sound of my scream. My scream that soon turned to agonized wails as I struggled against Domingo to get to Ken.  
"Let me go!" I screamed the plea as a few police officers approached us.

"Is she okay?" asked an officer, his eyes looking to the left as I dropped to my knees, bringing my captors with me as I wailed like a dieing animal.  
I continued wailing as I looked to my left, expecting that he was addressing my mother, but she was gone. Only Austin remained.

"That's my brother!" I screamed, nodding to the ambulance that was speeding away, lights blaring.  
"She's hysterical," Austin told them.

"Let me go!" I screeched, tears streaming down my face, "Let me go! He needs me! Please let me go!"  
"You should bring her to the hospital," one of the officers said, "It looks like the kids in bad condition."

"We will," Austin said, "C'mon guys, we'll take the crossover."  
There were mumbled responses from behind me as I was lifted off the pavement and dragged away. I struggled against them, although I wasn't sure why - they were bringing me to Ken anyway. I guess I really was hysterical. I was definitely losing it. I couldn't stay calm. I was just desperate to fix this.

I was half shoved into the backseat of the crossover as Domingo tried to do my seat belt as my struggles continued. Once I was buckled in, I kept screaming and struggling. I really was hysterical - too hysterical to even realize I could undo the seat belt. I was just a wreck really. I tried to stay strong when stuff like this happened, but this was too much. I'd reached my breaking point.

"Breath Becca," came Kate's voice - she must of been the other set of arms restraining me early. I opened my eyes and saw that she was sitting in the back with me. Domingo and Austin were up front. Austin was turned around and was staring at me with concern plastered on his face.

"Breath," Kate instructed and I tried to slow my breathing - I was practically panting. Kate coaxed me as I tried to breath in slow, steady, breaths. Eventually, my body had relaxed and I was a little more in control. I closed my eyes and just breathed for a few minutes, attempting to gather myself. I had to be calm, I had to be together. That was my job. I was supposed to stay calm when everyone else was frantic, but it wasn't working so well.

Eventually, I was as calm as I could ever be in this situation, and opened my eyes.  
"You okay?" Austin asked, his silver eyes full of love and worry.

I took a deep breath. "Yes," I said slowly, "Domingo, go faster." He was going pretty fast as it was, but not fast enough. As long as I wasn't hysterical anymore, I was determined to be in charge of things. Domingo obeyed, and sped up.

"Are you okay?" Kate asked, putting a comforting hand on mine.  
"As okay as I can be," I said, "I just need to see my brother as soon as possible."

"Of course," Kate agreed, "Domingo, speed up." Once again, Domingo sped up, and we arrived at the hospital in a minute. Domingo flew up to the front entrance of the ER and then slammed on the breaks. The second the car stopped, we all jumped out, not even caring about the car. Inside, the ER was chaos, although I didn't quite know why - maybe because of Ken.

I ran up to the front desk, where a frazzled and panicked looking secretary was being overwhelmed by all the beeping devices around her behind the little glass window.  
"I'm looking for my brother, Ken," I told her, slamming my hands down on the desk on my side of the window, "He's the kid who got stabbed at the high school."

"Oh, he's about to go into surgery," she said. She was about to say more, but I wasn't going to stick around to hear it, I ran and burst through the door leading into the actual ER itself. It was extraordinarily chaotic in there. People were running around, pushing people on gurneys. While I was running down the hallway, looking for Ken, I noticed something peculiar; all the injured people in the ER looked like immortals to me. What had happened? I was too consumed with concern for my brother to give it much thought.

I skidded across the corner and saw a tan boy with short dark hair on a gurney; it was Ken. I ran even faster and got there just before they pushed him into a room. I stood by the side and got a short lived glimpse of him. It was extremely loud there, but for that moment everything seemed dead silent to me. It was like I was deaf to everything but Ken. His shirt was soaked with blood and a doctor was holding something cloth down on his stomach (pressure on the wound.) Ken was staring up with wide, traumatized eyes and his face was wet with sweat. He was moaning in agony as he breathed in short little gasps. He looked up at me with unseeing eyes as they pushed him into the room.

I tried to follow, but the doctor behind the procession stopped me. I walked right into him and the chaotic noise of the ER came back to me instantly.  
"I'm sorry m'am, but you can't go in there," he said,

"But that's my brother!" I exclaimed.  
"I'm sorry, but nobody's allowed in here," he told me, "Your brother is in critical condition - nobody is allowed in the operating room. I'm sorry, I'll try and give you an update as soon as possible." With that, he turned and disappeared into the operating room. I was going to peer through the windows (even if it would end up making me feel worse) but there were drapes over the windows on the door.

I chocked on a sigh, feeling like I was going to start to cry. I didn't cry often, but I wanted to cry then. I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders and knew without looking up that it was Austin.  
"I saw what happened," he said, "I'm so sorry."

"He's my brother," I said quietly as tears began to trail down my cheeks, "I can't stand not knowing if he's dead or alive."  
"He's going to be okay," Austin said, pulling me close and kissing me on the head.

I didn't respond right away. I just looked up into Austin's eyes as tears filled mine. "That might of been the last time I saw my brother alive," I whimpered and Austin sat me down on the bench against the wall. I leaned into his shoulder as he pulled me closer. He held me as I cried and cried like I'd never cried before.


	38. Pressure

_**"Waiting" **_

I sat there and cried into Austin's shoulder for an endless amount of time. Nothing changed for what seemed like a life time; Austin and I were still alone, Ken was still in surgery, and I still felt horribly depressed and guilty. A slight change occurred when I heard approaching footsteps. I looked up and blinked away tears to see my family (the one in this life) coming down the hallway.

They were all there. My mom, wearing her pharmacist uniform and looking completely panicked. My dad, looking more concerned then ever before. Lydia, with tears streaming down her face. And Jake, dressed in his sweats and looking like he'd been dragged out of bed, but still completely freaked out.

"Oh honey!" my mom exclaimed, running over to me. I got up from the bench and wiped the tears away from my eyes. My mom hugged me tightly.  
"Ken's in surgery," I said quietly, pointing to the door behind me, "No one's allowed inside."

"Oh honey what happened?" she asked, as a few tears trickled out of her eyes. My mom didn't cry often, and seeing her cry set me off the deep end. When I'd seen my family, I'd regained a teeny bit of composure; enough to stop my sobs. But seeing my mother cry caused them to start up again.

"We-we were in the parking lot," I sobbed, my voice shaking, "And I got into a f-fight with this girl, Lisa. And then-and then she pulled a knife on me. And when she-she came after me, Ken tackled her to the ground. He-he had her pinned but then she got her kn-knife back and she-she stabbed him in the gut. I don't know what happened after that . . . I-I was so angry that I attacked Lisa. I-I couldn't help myself, I was so angry that I had to do something. So-so I just started beating the living hell out of her . . ."

"Good," Jake snarled, "I'm gonna kill that bitch."  
Neither mom or dad rebuked him for cursing, which is how I knew things were really bad.

"What happened after that?" my mom asked.  
"S-someone dragged me off of her . . . and then she disappeared. That-that's when I saw them putting Ken into the ambulance," I sniffed, still crying, "S-so Domingo drove me, Kate, and Austin here."

I motioned to where Austin was sitting quietly on the bench behind me. I wasn't sure where Domingo or Kate where, but I didn't have time to worry about them right now. They were fine where ever they were and Ken was more important right now.

"Where's the doctor?" my dad demanded, going over to the operating room doors. He lifted his hand like he was going to pound on the door.  
"No!" I shouted and he stopped, fist in mid air.

"What?" he asked.  
"What if you startle someone and they mess up or something?" I exclaimed, "Just wait, the Doctor promised me he'd give me an update."

My dad sighed, seeing my logic, and lowered his hand.  
"So what?" Lydia demanded, "We just sit here and wait?"

"I can't just sit and wait," Jake said, shaking his head back and forth, "I-I have to be doing something." Jake was starting to crack a little-I could see it. I was surprised he wasn't worse. Him and Ken were like me and Kate. Only in their case, instead of being twins mentally, they were twins physically. Jake and Ken were almost always together. Despite being complete opposites, they got along much better then most siblings. They were best friends. How Jake could be so calm when his twin- his best friend -may be dieing behind those doors, was amazing to me.

"How about we go get something to eat, okay Jake?" Lydia offered.  
"Okay," Jake mumbled, and they both shuffled away.

"Well I'm going to find a doctor," my dad said, and I could tell that he was pissed, "Somebody needs to give me answers."  
My dad stomped down the hallway, and my mom looked back and forth frantically between him and me.

"I'll be right back honey," she told me, following after my dad.  
"Sweetheart wait," she called, catching up to him as they turned a corner.

I collapsed back on the bench, snuggling up against Austin's side as he stroked my hair soothingly as I started crying again. I made these chocked sobbing sounds as I tried to get a hold of myself. "Shhhhhh it's going to be okay," Austin cooed, "Ken's going to be fine. I promise. Shhhhhh, everything's going to be alright. . ."

I continued crying until I felt something shift in the air around us. I looked up, blinking away tears to see my mother (Prima) standing there, flanked by her cloaked escorts. I had been too angry before to really look at her but now I realized that she was dressed in her usual fancy attire - a silky grey gown and had her curly hair pinned up.

I wiped my eyes and sprung up from the bench. "Give it back," I growled. I was still horribly depressed, but I was also angry with my mother for taking away my magic.  
"You can have your magic back when you calm down," she said primly.

"Calm down? _Calm down!_" I demanded, "How the hell am I supposed to calm down when my brother might be dieing behind those doors!"  
"Your brother will be fine," she said, seeming impatient.

I really wanted to believe her; really, truly did. But I didn't. "You don't know that," I snapped, "You think you know everything, just because your physic, but you don't. You didn't even know I was your daughter. Seeing the future doesn't make you omniscient."

"That's not how I know your brother will be alright," she said, "I know because one of my healers got to him before the EMT's did. It's because of the healing she did that he was able to make it here. Without it, that Shadow Slayer's blade would have killed him. You owe my healer your brother's life."

The cloaked figure standing directly to her left lifted their hood. She was a witch with a tattoo of a white dove on her forehead. She had baby blue eyes and long, auburn colored hair. She smiled at me. This was obviously the healer that saved my brother.

"I can't tell you how thankful I am," I said, reaching out and shaking her thin hand vigorously,"If it wasn't for you my brother would be dead. Thank you."  
"Your thanks isn't necessary," she told me, "I was more then happy too."

"Still," I insisted, "I'm extraordinarily thankful. Anything you need, you just let me know.  
"Honestly, it isn't necessary."

"Now Rose," said my mother, "It's quite alright."  
Rose nodded, obeying my mother's command. "Your welcome," she said before pulling her hood back over her head.

"Why are you guys here?" I asked my mother.  
"Two reasons darling," she said, "One, I saw that you were in distress. And two, there was a mass attack on immortals in the area."

"Shadow Slayers?" Austin asked, rising to his feet and standing next to me. He had been uncharacteristically quiet ever since my mother arrived.  
"Yes," she said, "It seems like your run in with that young Shadow Slayer did not happen by chance. We believe they were planning this attack for a while."

"Oh my God, did they kill anybody?" I asked, worried.  
"A wish granter in the next town over was killed," she said, "But so far, the ones that have been found, are thought to survive. Immortals aren't killed quite so easily."

"That's awful," I said, "Why would they do that?"  
"I can not pretend to understand the twisted working of a Shadow Slayers mind," she said.

I nodded; those guys were obviously all crazy.  
"We need to be going," my mother said, "There are other immortals my healers need to attend to."

"Wait, before you go, can I have my magic back?" I asked.  
"Not yet," she told me, "Not until we humanely dispose of that Shadow Slayer you have a bone to pick with."

"She's still alive!" I demanded, "You have to let me kill her! She betrayed me! She tried to kill me! She nearly killed my brother!"  
"I'm sorry Aella," she said, "But we don't believe in torture. That is why I can not give you back your magic until the Shadow Slayer has been dealt with."

"But that's not fair!" I exclaimed, "I deserve this!"  
"Rules are rules Aella," she told me.

The small cloaked figure to her right lifted their hood, to reveal that it was Vitani. She had the tattoo of the little black fairy visible on her forehead and her wide purple eyes looked displeased. "But mom-" she began, sounding concerned.  
"Silence Vitani," my mother commanded harshly.

Vitani scowled and growled lowly, which was something Vampires usually did, not so much witches.  
"But mom we could-" she started again.  
"Did I not tell you to be silent Vitani?" our mother demanded.

She snorted unhappily, but obeyed and pulled her hood back up.  
"Now," my mother said, "There is one last thing I almost forgot to tell you. The Council meeting tomorrow, I'd like both you, and Austeralgo to attend."

"Why?" I asked suspiciously. I was already planning on going, but why did she want me to go?  
"Because I will also be attending," she said.

"But you haven't gone to Hades in centuries!" I exclaimed.  
"Things have changed," she said, "And there are important matters to be discussed. I expect to see you both there."

"But-" I began.  
"I'll see you tomorrow Aella," she cut me off before her and her escort vanished into thin air.

There was a second long intermission before a doctor walked out of the operating room, the one that had stopped me from going in.  
"I have good news," he said, approaching us, "Your brother is going to life. We're going to have to keep him in the ICU for a while, but he is expected to make a full recovery."

"Oh thank God," I sighed, hugging Austin tightly. I'd already known he was going to live -thanks to my mother- but hearing it from a doctor was much more reassuring.  
"Are your parents around?" asked the doctor as I continued to cling to Austin.

"Yeah," I said, "They actually just left to go look for a doctor. I'll find them."  
"Thank you," he said, "When you find them, tell them to come to the front desk to sign some papers. From there the secretary will tell them where to find me. I'd like to talk to them."

"Okay," I said as he disappeared back into the OR. I continued to hug Austin tightly for a while more. I was just so consumed with relief that if I didn't hold onto someone I'd probably collapse. It took a minute for my head to clear and for me to realize that I was probably hugging him _too _tightly, and was probably hurting him. Although, he'd never admit it, especially not then.

I let go of him and said, "C'mon, let's go find my parents."  
"I'm sure they'll be relieved," he said, grabbing my hand. He had been oddly considerate and polite since Ken had been stabbed. It was weird; I never thought he knew how to act in these kinds of situations. I guess I was wrong.

Together we went to search for my parents. It didn't take very long; I could hear them arguing from around the corner. It sounded like my mom wanted to go back and wait outside the OR with me, but my dad wanted to keep looking for someone to give them answers.

"Mom!" I called as we rounded the corner, "Dad!"  
They both turned around when they heard my voice. "What is it honey?" my mom asked.

Releasing Austin's hand, I ran forward and hugged my mother. She seemed surprised to say the least, but she hugged me back. "He's going to live," I told her; I was nearly crying with relief but I refused to cry any more that day, "Ken's going to be okay. They have to keep him in intensive care for now but he's going to be okay."  
"Oh thank God," she said, hugging me tighter. I could tell by her voice that she was also on the verge of tears.

She released me and her and my dad hugged. "The doctor told me to tell you guys to go to the front desk to sign some stuff, and from there they'd tell you where to find him. he wants to talk to you." I told them.  
"Good," my dad said. He was of course ecstatic that Ken was going to live, but he was also glad that he was finally going to get some answers.

"I'll meet you at the front desk honey," my mom said as they pulled apart, "I need to go find Jake and Lydia. They're probably worried sick."  
My dad nodded and they both headed in opposite directions; leaving Austin and I alone.

"Thank you," I said, hugging him, gently this time.  
"What for?" he asked.

"For being so good to me," I explained, "During this whole ordeal I've been a complete mess, and if it wasn't for you I'd have never gotten through it."  
"Well it wouldn't be in my nature to abandon a damsel in distress, now would it?" he asked, switching back into Austin mode.

"Of course not," I said sarcastically, playing along, "But this damsel has one more favor to ask of you oh brave knight."  
"And what would that be fair maiden?" he wondered, still keeping up the bit.

"You know a lot of important people in the Azimon world, right?" I asked, no longer playing along.  
"Yeah . . .why?" he asked, also killing the medieval bit.

"Well . . . do you know anybody who would know where the Black Rose Coven would keep prisoners they plan to execute?" I asked. I wanted to be the one to kill Lisa, no one else.  
"No . . . but you do."

"I do? Who?" I asked.  
"Vitani," he told me.

"Oh my God, you're right!" I exclaimed, "I forgot about her! And earlier, she seemed like she agreed with me. I bet she'd be willing to help . . . but how am I going to get a chance to ask her?"  
"Tomorrow," he said, "At the Council meeting. Prima is going, and she never goes anywhere without Vitani. She's like her right hand girl."

"You're right," I agreed, "I can ask her."  
"We can ask her," he corrected.

"You're going to be at the Council meeting?" I asked hopefully. I really wanted to go but he'd already expressed how much he _didn't _want to go.  
"Do you want me to be there?"  
"Yes,"

"Then I'll be there."

* * *

_so ik a lot of ppl r probably happy that ken lives; i just couldn't kill him . . . anyway, i have some new pictures 4 this story up on my profile. I have Mr. Kardigan, Jake, Ken, Athan, Attis . . . plus a much better pic of Prima and an even better picture of becca. I really like the new pic of becca, it looks exactly like how I imagined her. .. anyway, check them out and **please review! :)**_


	39. Do This Anymore

_**Read: **not 2 pleased with the amount of reviews on the last chapter. i mean, c'mon guys, only 7? Thanks 2 those of u who review but i think we cud do a little better. I mean, i went like a month w/o updating n i got a ton of reviews without even having 2 write anything. . . n now i'm back 2 a normal updating schedule n all i get is 7? i mean, i write bcuz i luv my stories n my characters, but its nice 2 get some feedback . . . u no, c ur oppions on the chapter. plus, i wanna get 2 400 reviews! c'mon, were like 3 away! Anyway enjoy and PLEASE review :)_

_**"Preparing For Battle" **_

Of course, I didn't go to school the next day, for three reasons. One, because when I'd seen Ken the day before he'd been out cold and I really wanted to talk to him. Two, because I had to get ready for the Council meeting that evening. And third, because school was closed because the humans thought that the psycho stabber was still out there. But even if it had been open, I still wouldn't of gone.

I went to the hospital early that morning with my dad. My mom had stayed overnight with Ken, and Lydia was staying home with Jake for the time being; he was still sick and she wanted to keep an eye on him, since Ken had gotten hurt she'd been more protective of Jake and me. The car ride with my dad was basically silence. When we got to the hospital, we headed straight for Ken's room. Down the hall from his room, we ran into my mother talking with Ken's doctor.

"Oh honey, wait," My mom said, reaching out and brushing her fingers against my dads hand as we passed, "Listen to this."  
"Alright," he said, coming to a stop. I stopped too, not sure if she wanted us both to wait.

"No honey you go ahead," my mom told me, "We're just discussing what our health insurance covers. You go check on your brother."  
"Okay," I said, continuing past them and heading to Ken's room. The first thing I noticed was the woman sitting in a chair by Ken's bed. She was wearing a purple cloak with the hood down. She was facing away from me but I could see her long auburn colored hair. She was gently stroking a sleeping Ken's cheek but stopped the second I walked in. She stood up and turned around without me having to say a word.

It was the witch that had healed Ken, Rose, I'd known that before she'd even turned around; her dark red hair and purple cloak were a dead tell. She stared at me with a blank expression for a moment. Her baby blue eyes bore into me and her pale and pretty face conveyed nothing. The gold outlined, white dove on her forehead glimmered faintly in the fluorescent lights of the hospital room.

"Hello," she said finally, taking a step closer to me. She extended her hand to me, and the sleeves of her oversized purple cloak slid down her thin wrists. I shook her hand and I noticed tiny white doves outlined in gold tattooed all over her pale hand. "I'm Rosette."  
"Becca," I said, "Or Aella. But I'm guessing you already know that."

"Yes of course," she said, drawing back, "Sorry if I startled you. I just came to check on Kenneth here. I tend to get quite attached to those I have healed, my apologies."  
"No, it's fine," I told her, "I mean, you saved his life. I don't mind at all. Besides, I'm the one who owes you."

"Like I said Princess, it's perfectly alright. I'm more then happy to help," she insisted.  
"I'm still really thankful. So anything you need, you let me know," I told her.

"Alright," she said, walking back over to Ken's bedside. She surprised me when she bent over and kissed him on the forehead. Then she straightened back up and looked at my blankly for a brief second before pulling her hood back up and vanishing.

The second she was gone, Ken's eyes flew open, seeming startled. He sprung up, halfway, before wincing and collapsing back.  
"Becca?" he asked, "What's going on? Where am I?"

It was probably the only thing he'd ever said to me that wasn't insulting or less then two words.

"Your in the hospital," I told him, "You got stabbed in the parking lot at school."  
"I did?" he asked, clearly not remembering any of this, "By who?"

"Lisa," I told him.  
"Wait-Lisa M?" he asked.  
"Yeah."

"Are you telling me that I was stabbed . . . by a cheerleader?"  
"Well yeah, but not a normal cheerleader," I explained, "The bitch is crazy. She tried to kill me, but you stopped her . . . and then she stabbed you in the gut."

"Of course, the one time I do something nice, I get stabbed," he grumbled.  
"On the upside, I beat the living hell out of her for you. Plus, half our school sent you 'get better' presents," I said, gesturing to the plants, balloons, and teddy bears that decorated the room.

"Well don't I feel loved," he muttered.  
"And also on the upside, this is the longest, non hostile conversation I've ever had with you," I pointed out.

"True," he agreed.  
"And another thing, school is closed today because they have to investigate," I added, "So the entire school has you to thank for that."

"If I knew that all I had to do to get out of school was get stabbed," he said, "I'd pick fights with cheerleaders more often."  
I laughed. "You know, when you actually talk . . . you're pretty funny."

"Don't get used to it."  
"I won't."

"You know what I don't get," he said, "Stuff like this isn't supposed to happen in small towns. That's the whole reason anybody would want to live here. But in the past like three months, there's been a shooting and a stabbing . . . what the hell is up with that?"  
"I don't know," I mumbled, even though I kinda did; at least with the stabbing part, "Let me go get mom and dad. They'll be glad you're up. Lydia and Jake will be over later too."

"Okay," he said as I approached his bed.  
"Oh and one last thing. Thank you."

"For what?" he asked.  
"For protecting me," I said, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. He grumbled at the sentiment in a very Ken matter, which made me smile, as I left.

***%***

After visiting Ken at the hospital, Lydia dropped me off at the Kardigan's on her way home. When I walked into the kitchen, it was practically empty aside from Mrs. Kardigan, who was on the phone, and Kate and Domingo who were sitting at the table, leaning over a book.

"Hey guys," I said.  
Mrs. Kardigan put her hand over the receiver and said, "Hello Becca," before continuing talking to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

"Hey Becca," Kate and Domingo said one after the other.  
"What's that?" I wondered, pointing to the book.

"A book of baby names," she told me, "We're trying to think of possible names."  
"Well good luck with that. Austin in there?" I asked, pointing to the door that lead to the living room.

"Yeah," she said, "He's watching TV or something."  
"Cool, thanks," I said, heading into the living room.

When I walked in, Austin was lounging on the couch in his pajamas; flannel pajama pants and a grey sweatshirt. I noticed that he didn't have his arm in it's sling.  
"Hey," I said, walking over to him.  
"Hey," he returned as I sat down next to him and briefly kissed him on the lips.

"Where's your sling?" I wondered.  
"Oh, I don't need it anymore. I got the OK from Domingo. It's practically 100%. That pixie blood is powerful shit. I still have to wear the sling when I'm out with humans, though. Cause I can't go to school one day with a broken arm and then be fine a couple days later. It's a lil suspicious. But I don't have to wear it when I'm at home or in Hades or whatever. The ribs are going to take a few more days though."

"Oh cool," I said, "What are you watching?"  
_"House," _he told me.

I rolled my eyes. "Not only do you have to harm yourself on a regular basis, but you also enjoy watching other crippled people . . ." I muttered.  
"What can I say? I'm a complex person," he said.

Like I didn't already know that.

I hung out with Austin for a while just watching TV, talking, kissing a little . . . Around four in the afternoon, Kate insisted that she had to get me ready. She was going to the Council meeting too; she wanted to announce her pregnancy to them. I really didn't mind a Kate makeover that day-as long as she didn't make me look like a whore (that was my one boundary.) I just wanted to look good for the Council meeting.

I let Kate do my hair, do my makeup, paint my nails, and pick out my outfit. And when she was done, I was quite pleased. She had picked out a short, black dress with a ruffly skirt and a satin bow around the waist. She'd pulled some of my hair back and held it in place with a pretty clip and let the rest fall in loose curly ringlets. She'd also outlined my eyes in eyeliner that wasn't quite as dark as what I usually wore, and decorated my lids with gold eyeshadow. Combined with some silver hoops, my locket, and black ballet slippers I looked pretty good. I felt that this was fancy enough for the Council.

When she was done making me all pretty, she had to get herself ready. So, I went downstairs to go find Austin before we left. I found him in the living room, sitting on the couch and watching TV. He was already ready; dressed in a black button-up shirt and jeans. That was dressing up as far as Austin was concerned.

"Hey," I said, sitting down next to him.  
"Well someone is looking sexy today," he said, putting his unbroken arm around my shoulders, "Even more so then usual."

"And who exactly would this 'someone' be?" I asked teasingly.  
"Me of course," he said, rolling his eyes as if that was obvious.

I swatted him. "Jerk," I muttered.  
"Kidding," he said laughing, "Kidding."

"You better be," I muttered, "So when are we leaving?"  
"As soon as Kate gets down here," he said, "The limo's already here . . . and so is Lykaios. Domingo's waiting out there with him."

"Uh! Kate's going to take forever," I groaned.  
"I know right," he muttered, "She'll spend an hour debating about which dress to wear. I can imagine exactly what she's thinking right now. _Oh, green is so unflattering with my skin tone. And oh, these horizontal stripes make me look fat." _

I laughed. "She's going to flip a bitch when the baby bump comes," I told him.  
"Oh you did not just say that!" came a voice from the top of the stairs. We both turned around to see Kate skipping down the stairs. She was dressed in a white dress with pink polka dots and heels. She had her hair straightened and had dangly silver earrings.

"I know you didn't just say the word 'baby bump' because if you did, I'll have to kill you," she said, coming to a halt at the bottom of the stairs.  
"Of course I didn't," I said sarcastically, "I said . . .baby let's _hump." _

"Okay, _ew. _I know that you're kidding and I still want to vomit," she said, shuddering.  
"Look whose talking Ms. Preggo," Austin said.

"Don't start with me man whore," she told him, "I thought we had a truce. But if not, I'd be more then happy to show Becca some of our old family videos."  
"Fine, you win this round preggers," he grumbled, getting up, "But this isn't over."

I laughed, following his example and getting up. "C'mon you guys, let's go. Lykaios and Domingo are waiting."  
"And we wouldn't want to keep Kate's lover wating," Austin muttered.

"Shut up," she snapped, swatting his shoulder as she passed us on her way into the kitchen.  
Austin laughed and wrapped his unbroken arm around my shoulders. "Take it easy there preggers," he called, "I can't take nine months of your wailing."

"Go to hell Austin!" she called from the kitchen as we followed her.  
"You're a jerk," I told him, laughing.  
"It's my thing," he said with a shrug.

When we walked into the kitchen, Mrs. Kardigan and Tora were sitting down at the table, talking. Kate was bending over to kiss her mother on the cheek.  
"Bye mom," she said, "I'll see you later."

"Okay honey, be good," she advised, "And be careful."  
"I will. Bye Tora," she said before heading out the door.

"That counts for you especially," Mrs. Kardigan said, rising to her feet to face Austin.  
"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked accusingly.

"It means that you need to watch your temper young man," she said, "If you get hurt again I'm going to be extremely miffed."  
"First of all, this time was not my fault," he said, "I was kidnapped. That's completely different."

"My advice stands," she said simply, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Now be good."  
"Fine," he muttered.

"Good," she said, kissing him on the forehead, "I'll see you tonight."  
"Okay bye mom," he said, heading over to the door with me at his side.

"Be careful, you too Becca," she said.  
"I will Mrs. Kardigan," I promised.

"Alright," she said, heading over to the stove to probably cook more. For someone who didn't eat, she spent a lot of time cooking for other people.  
"Okay . . .bye mom," Austin said, his tone hinting that he was hoping she wasn't going to say anymore so we could finally leave.

"Bye honey, I love you!" she called as we headed out the door.  
"Love you too mom," he called back, rolling his eyes. I snickered.

"My mom is mental," he told me as we headed down the driveway. The limo was parked at the curb with Lykaios and Domingo standing outside. Lykaios was all buisness but Domingo was having a conversation with Kate.  
"So is mine," I said, "Both of them."

I laughed. "Not true. One of your moms is crazy. But the other one is just scary."  
"Agreed," I said as we approached the limo.

Lykaios nodded at Austin and he nodded back as we slid into the limo. Kate followed, then Domingo, and then Lyakios. The ride was long and generally quiet. Kate and Domingo were whispering to each other, and based on Kate's frequent giggles I had a feeling I didn't want to know what they were talking about. Lyakios was of course dead silent, but I did notice him giving Kate and Domingo sideways glances and rolling his eyes every so often, which made me smile. Austin was also pretty quiet, probably thinking about the upcoming meeting. He didn't seem too nervous about this meeting, but he did seem a little suspicious. I was pretty quiet too, but mostly because there was nobody who was really in the mood to talk. Well, except for Kate and Domingo but I had a feeling talking wasn't the only thing they were in the mood for.

When the limo entered Hades I felt myself getting really excited. I hadn't been here in a few weeks, but those few weeks had seemed like years. I was staring out the heavily tinted windows at the streets of Belladonna. I loved guessing what kind of immortal the people that I saw were. I loved looking at the buildings and recognizing them from my childhood here. I loved pointing out my old friends' houses to myself. I just loved Hades in general; it was my home.

When we approached the Council building I felt even more at home; I'd spent many boring afternoons in there, but this time would be different. Papparazzi were swarmed around the front steps, just waiting for us. When we stopped at the curb the limo was pratically swamped by them. Austin turned to look at me before we got out.  
"You ready?" he asked.

"I'm ready."

* * *

**_**Vitani's POV**_**

"Deacon!" I called as I ran down the stairs.  
"Yes?" he wondered, looking up from the piece of paper he was studying intently.

"Have you seen my other sneaker?" I asked, lifting my single black paint-splattered converse.  
"No . . .why don't you just use a spell?"

"I can't. I magic proofed it because Tansy kept stealing them," I explained.  
"Oh . . .why don't you check the garage?" he suggested.

"Good idea," I said, jogging through dozens of hallways until I reached our fancy shmancy kitchen. Our cooks, Lucina and Enyo, were well, cooking obviously.  
"Hungry Vitani?" asked Lucina as she peeled potatoes by the sink, "I made brownies for desert. You can have one now if you like."

"Nah, no thanks," I said, "I'm not really hungry." It was true, I hadn't been very hungry lately, it was weird. But I had been awfully thirsty: my throat was so dry. I was probably getting a cold or something.  
"Okay hon," she said as I disappeared through the doors at the other side of the kitchen, the ones that led to the garage.

Our garage was like your typical garage, maybe a little bigger if anything. The three cars that we never drove were in there; a sleek Mercedes, a sweet Ferrari, and a kick ass Lamborghini. On top of that, there were buckets of Frisbees and baseballs, cabinets, a line of my old bikes, and a pile of shoes. I searched through the entire pile but my sneaker was no where to be found. I groaned; I was going to be late if I didn't find that damn shoe soon.

I left the garage and decided to go check in my room again. My room was relatvily clean but my closet was an absolute mess; you could barely see the floor. It was pretty probable that my shoe had gotten lost in the wreckage. I was still searching when I heard quiet footsteps coming up the hall.

"Vitani?" came my mother's voice. The footsteps had stopped and I knew that she was standing in my doorway. I scrambled to my feet, stepping on an upside heel as I made my way out. I cursed quietly under my breath as I shook my foot out and half hopped over to the door. My mom was standing there, looking just as annoyingly formal as ever. She wore a long, clingy, dark green dress and all gold jewlery. The look she gave me was one of disaproval, as usual.

"What in the name of Maya are you wearing?" she demanded.  
I looked down at my outfit. I was wearing a pair of extremly ripped jeans over neon green fishnets that were visible through the holes. Along with a neon blue, tiger striped, hoodie.

"Clothes?" I said it like a question. She always forced me to wear girly dresses around the house, but she usually didn't care what I wore out.  
"You can't wear those to the Council meeting," she told me.

"Council meeting?" I asked, "I can't go to the Council meeting. I have plans!" Some of the human teenagers at my school had asked me to come to the movies with them that night. I didn't hang out with a lot of humans, most of my friends were witches. For a mulitude of reasons. First off, I usually just prefered immortals because they were more fun. But also because a lot of humans I went to school with thought I was weird. But I was weird along with my witch friends, and together we were that kind of weird that people respected. However, one clique of scene kids hung out with us a lot and had invited me and a few of my other friends to go to the movies with them. I was pretty excited; especially since Athan would be there and _Attis wouldn't. _He was going out of town or something this weekend.

"Then cancel. You have to go to this meeting," she said firmly.  
"But that's not fair!" I exclaimed, "Why do I have to go anyway! I'm just gonna sit there and do nothing."

"It's very important for you to be there tonight."  
"Why? So I can be apart of your silent and creepy entourage as always?" I snapped.

"You'll see," she said, "Now go put something nice on, and don't forget your cloak. We'll be leaving soon." With that, she turned and quietly closed the door behind her. In complete frustration, I just screamed. Angrily, I knocked over my desk chair and stomped into my closet. I yanked my purple cloak off the hanger and put it on over the clothes I was already wearing. Fuck dresses. I wasn't going to put on an uncomfortable and totally girly dress just to wear it under my cloak.

I stalked over to my mirror and stared into it. I wasn't pleased with the image staring back. A tiny girl in a long purple cloak and big purple eyes with dark shadows under them. Her hair was blonde with black tips and very fine. Her pale face was childike and dead.

I hated it. I hated how my mother made me one of her followers. With our hoods up, we all looked like clones. We hardly ever spoke, and when we did it was with complete and total apathy. We didn't express emotion and we didn't do anything without my mother's consent. Every move we made was supposed to be graceful. Every word apathetic. Every look cold. Every strike deadly.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I didn't want to be viewed as a faceless sensless minion of my mother's. That's not who I was. I was Vitani. Furiously, I ran over to my desk and grabbed the charmed brush my mother had given me. I whirled around and flung it at my mirror. The mirror exploded into thousands of tiny pieces of glass; I was actually surprised it had broke. I didn't think I was strong enough to do that.

Instictually, I dropped to the ground and covered my face to protect myself from the shards of glass raining down. I opened my eyes after I'd heard the tinkling sound of them all falling to the ground. When I opened them I was staring under my bed and saw something.

My missing shoe.


	40. Hear Me Now

_**READ! **Ok so i'm back being in2 this story. updating n whatever ive also decided to go back n fix all the old chapters, starting at the beginning. editing it, fixing grammar n spelling n just making them better in general. i just want them 2 be something i can b proud of. Anyway ive gotten 2 chapter 4 . . . so feel free 2 go back n check them out . . .i think they're much better, personally. im gonna try n go through both 'books' it's gonna take 4ever but it'll b worth it. oh n feel 2 PM me n let me no wat u think of the revised chapters. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter n plz review :) Back 2 **Becca's POV**, just a heads up_

* * *

_**"Hear Me Now" **_

The awkward levels in the room were rising as we all silently waited for my mother to arrive. I wasn't surprised that she was running late; she was the kind of person who liked to make people wait for her. General Odysseus had impatiently insisted that we start the meeting without her, but Zephorous (my dad, whatever) wouldn't hear of it. We had to be sitting there at least a half an hour when she arrived.

The large ornate doors burst open and my mother swooped in, followed by her cloaked escorts. She was dressed in a dark green gown with her hair pinned up and gold jewelry all over. She had a blank expression on her face but she held her head up high. She regally strode over to her chair on my dad's right hand side. Her cloaked entourage backed up against the wall behind her chair, across from Austin's bodyguards. The smallest one (who was obviously Vitani) had her lips, the only visible part of her face, pressed into a thin agitated line.

"Prima, it's lovely to see you," Zephorous greeted her.  
"Likewise," she said plainly, "I'm not late now am I?"

"No of course not," he said, of course nobody would tell her she was late, "We were just about to start."  
"Liar," my mother said simply.

"Well, let's begin," he said, breaking eye contact with my mother and then making a consistent effort to avoid looking at her. "First matter of business, the peace treaty."  
"For the millionth time, they won't sign the treaty unless I marry Aurora. And I refuse to marry that crazy bitch," Austin said.

"Yeah," I chimed in, "It's unfair to make Austin marry that heartless bitch. I won't let you."  
"Easy Aella," my dad said, "You didn't let me finish. I'm proposing that we _don't _sign the treaty."

"Zephorous have you lost your mind?" General Odysseus demanded.  
"Now Odysseus, I think this proposition deserves some serious consideration," he said, "We had an agreement with the Arthasians that we would have a grace period while we discussed the treaty. But they directly violated the grace period when they kidnapped Prince Austeralgo and attacked Prima's house. Now, if they can't be trusted to honor a simple agreement how can we expect them to honor such an important treaty."

"I agree with Zephorous," my mother said.  
"Hell, so do I," Austin said, "Actually, I think it's the best idea he's ever had."

"You just don't want to marry Aurora," Lupo chimed in, "You're not thinking of the repercussions not signing this treaty could have."  
"Exactly," Odysseus jumped in, "If there is even a chance that we can end this war then we should take it."

"But they're not going to honor it," Aurai threw in, "They're just going to milk our trust for all it's worth, then once they've got what they want, they'll betray us."  
"She's right," Ladon agreed, "They can't be trusted."

"Now, we should at least give them a chance," Cybele added.  
"Taking chances get people killed," Analisa said wisely.

"If we don't take chances there's no way we'll ever be able to end this war," Hamied said.  
My dad nodded slowly. "Fawn, what do you think?" he asked.

"This war has taken it's toll on the human world enough as it is," she said, "Wild fires, flash floods, earthquakes, tornadoes. They all think they're caused by nature, but they don't even realize that it's the override of magic being used all over the world by immortals to fuel this war. I think if there's any chance we could end this war, we should take it. It would benift the entire human species."

He nodded again. "Nicodemus?"  
"I think it's worth a shot," he said.

"Nova?"  
"I agree with Nico," she said.

"What about you Hekate?" he asked.  
"Hell no!" she exclaimed.

"So that's seven no's," my dad tallied, "And seven yes's. Hmmm, seems were divided right down the middle. Aella what do you think?"  
"Now wait a minute," Odysseus jumped in, "This is inaccurate. Three of your 'no's' aren't even members of the Council."

"Well, to counter Odysseus," my dad said, "Two of your 'yes's' aren't members of the Council."  
"Yes, but if you only counted members of the Council then the those for it would win," he countered.

"Yes, well, I'm the king, hence my authority is higher then that of the Council," my dad said, "So, I say we take their opinions into consideration."  
"But Zephorous-" the General began.

"I won't hear it Odysseus. My decision is final. Now, Aella, what do you think?"  
_I think the general just got owned. . . _

"I say we don't sign it," I said, working to keep the grin off my face. My decision decided it. Not only was it the tie-breaker, but I was also daddy's little girl and he would go along with whatever I said. Especially since he thought I was dead for four hundred years . . .  
"Now that is not an well thought out opinion," Odysseus threw in, "She is only saying that because she doesn't want to lose her little boyfriend to Princess Aurora."

"Okay what about this?" I snapped, "The Arthasians are cruel and sick and do not deserve our trust. They will only take advantage of us before stabbing us in the back. They will use our trust as a tool against us and use it to strike against us and our people, and it will be more catastrophic then ever before because we didn't see it coming. How's _that _for well thought out?"

"Well, it suffices as far as I'm concerned," my dad said, "Then it's decided. We won't sign the treaty with the Arthasians."  
Austin and I exchanged ecstatic glances as several members cried out in disbelief in outrage.

"Zephorous, this needs to be heavily considered!"  
"We can't jump into something like this!"  
"And we certainly can't let the decision of a child make or break it!"

"Hey!" I exclaimed, jumping to my feet, "I am not a child! I'm seventy two years old!"  
"Please," General Odysseus scoffed, "Nearly making it to age twenty four times does _not _count as being seventy two. Which, by the way is still horribly young for an immortal. Half of each of those lives you were too young to really learn much and the other half you were still a child. You're far from an adult. You're just as much of a child as Austeralgo or Hekate, granted you have a few more experiences, but the fact remains the same."

"You know what Oddyseus?" I growled, "Get bent!"  
"Aella," my mother rebuked as Kate and Austin snickered.

"I'm not sorry," I sniffed, "And while we're discussing people treating me like a child, I'd thank you kindly to _give me my magic back._"  
"I told you Aella, not until we've executed the prisoner," she said calmly, her composure only made me angrier.

"God damn it woman! Give it back!" I yelled angrily.  
"No," she said plainly.

"Now!" I growled furiously.  
"Aella!" my mother snapped, losing a tad of her careful composure and getting angry, "That's quite enough."

"No! Stop telling me what to do!" I shouted, "I'm sick of you treating me like I'm a child! I am not a child and you're not even my real mother anymore!"  
"Aella," my mother hissed through clenched teeth, "This is not the time nor the place for this."

"I don't care! I want my magic back! And I want it back now! I'm sick of you acting like you're _better _then everybody else! Like you can tell everybody else what to-"  
"I'm pregnant!" Kate shouted suddenly, jumping to her feet.

If her plan was to break up our fight by distracting everyone with this monumental news, then she succeeded. The entire room exploded in chaos. People were yelling and screaming. In a flash, Austin was up, standing in front of Kate protectively, snarling. Domingo had grabbed her from behind and was pulling her away from the table. Austin backed up with them, keeping his eyes on the Council.

"Nessun parlare! Silenzio! Nessuno si muove. Lo significo." I shouted over the noise. Nobody listened though.  
"Lo significo!" I repeated. The angrier I got the more I felt the need to speak Italian. Plus, I had a feeling they'd take me more seriously that way for whatever reason.

Everyone went silent, looking at me like they expected me to do something. "Buono. Ora lasciare spiega," I told them.  
Following my instructions, Kate came back to the table with Domingo and Austin still lingering protectively around her, as if they thought someone might try to physically hurt her.

"Thank you Becca," she said, "The reason I came here was to announce my pregnancy to you all. I'm keeping the baby, just a head's up."  
"Who is the father," Odysseus demanded in a tightly controlled voice. I didn't get why he cared.

"Domingo," she said, reaching out behind her and touching his arm, "You should also probably know that I'm with Domingo."  
"I can't believe this," my father said, "You're seventeen, this shouldn't of happen."

"Yeah well, you're not my dad. And my dad already gave me a similar speech," she said, "I only wanted to tell you so you wouldn't flip a bitch when you found out on your own. Because, to be honest, I'm not the prince or the princess so really, I can do whatever I damn well please."  
"What I can't believe is that you had an affair with the help . . ." Analisa muttered.

"Domingo is _not _the help," Kate snarled.  
"The help?" Lupo chimed in, "Is that some kind of werewolf generalization, Analisa?"

"Of course not," she said, "My Lord, you guys are so touchy."  
"'You guys?' Another werewolf generalization?" Odysseus jumped in.

"Of course not," she said, "I'm just saying that it's distasteful for a werewolf and a vampire to be together, that's all."  
"Distasteful? Distasteful to who? Vampires?" Lupo hissed, "Typical. Self righteous bastards."

"You want to see self righteous?" Analisa snapped, "Then take a look at a witch."  
"Oh go to hell Analisa," Cybele exclaimed, "We are _not _self righteous. Witches are some of the most racially excepting species."

"Please," Lupo said with a dramatic eye roll, "Like you were happy about your precious son marrying a werewolf."  
"You leave my son out of this Lupo," Cybele retorted, "How would you like it if I brought up how your son got a pixie girl pregnant? You weren't too pleased about that now were you?"

"Yeah, what the hell was that about?" Aurai jumped into the verbal brawl, "You got a thing against pixies?"  
"Well you are annoying little bastards," Lupo snapped.

Aurai jumped up out of her chair. "I'm not going to sit here and take that from something that should be tied up outside."  
"Oh go play in traffic you little midget," he snapped dismissively.

"Go to hell you filthy animal," she hissed.  
"Lei dapprima lei il piccolo demone," he snarled, speaking in Azimon-italian.  
"Guardare di chi cane di inferno che parla!" she snapped back, also speaking in Italian.

The entire Council room was engaged in similar fights. All the members were argueing-species against species. Oddysseus and Analisa were screaming at each other. Lupo and Aurai were arguing in Italian. Nora was yelling at Cybele, her future mother in law. Nicodemus was arguing with Fawn, Hamied and Ladon were screaming at each other. Austin had joined the arguement between Odysseus and Analisa; taking Analisa's side of course. Kate and Domingo were helping Lupo tag team Aurai. Lykaios was yelling at Aldara, the secretary, to do something.

I expected my mother or father to try and stop this chaos, but they weren't. Believe it or not they were just standing there, arguing with each other. The only people in the room not engaged in arguments were me, and my mother's silent escorts. Although, a few of them, looked like some of what they were hearing was pissing them off. That changed quickly though. Soon, I heard Cybele make a negative comment about hybrids and immediately got on her case.

"You got a problem with hybrids?" I growled in her face.  
"Of course not," she sneered, "Why would I have a problem with a magicless mutt being our princess, Princess?"

"You know what, you can just go burn in hell you judgemental bitch," I snarled.  
"Lei la non ha rispetto la strega ignorante!" she exclaimed in Italian.

"Andare marcire nell'inferno!" I shouted back in Italian. The fighting went on like that for a while. It was strange really. All the most highly respected members of the Azimon, screaming at each other like children. I was surprised how angry everyone (including me) got when people bashed their species. I didn't think about it much though, I was too busy arguing with Cybele.

It seemed like the fighting would go on forever, since nobody seemed inclined to break it up. Until a bolt of lightning suddenly flew up from nowhere and struck the ceiling. Thunder erupted, somehow, and the entire room shook. Everyone went silent. I searched for the source of the lightning and found that it was the small cloaked figure that had taken a step forward; Vitani.

"Silenzio!" she ordered, her voice sounding authoritve and foreign, "Abbastanza!"  
My father turned to look at her. "And who are you to tell us what to do, child?" he snapped.

"She's your daughter," my mother said. _"What!" _I screamed in my mind. Everyone else in the room looked like they were thinking the exact same thing.  
"What," my father demanded quietly.

"She's your daughter," my mother said calmly. My guess was that she was saving that peice of information until she was angry enough with Zephorous and could use it against him.  
"I'm his what!" Vitani demanded, dropping her hood. Her face was completly baffled looking.

"He is your father," she told her daughter calmly.  
"How is that even possible!" Austin demanded.

"He's right," Oddyseus jumped in, surprising me by agreeing with Austin, "You and Zephorous have been divorced for centuries."  
"Yes, but we've had certain . . . encounters since then," she said precisely.

"Ew," I said plainly, picking up on what she was implying.  
"Wait-he can't be my father . . . that would make me half vampire," Vitani rambled, seeming stunned.

"No I'm not. . .I-I can't be. I don't bleed blue," she stammered, shrugging off her cloak and letting it fall to the ground. Underneath she wore ripped jeans over neon green fishnets and a neon striped sweatshirt with black, paint splattered, converse. "See?" she said, pulling back the sleeve of her sweatshirt and then dragging her finger across the inside of her arm. Her fingernail scraped through her skin and left a trail of dark, almost purple looking, blood in it's wake.

"Uh-" she said, "My blood doesn't usually look like that. . . uh, I'm actually a little concerned now . . ."  
"I used a spell on you," my mother explained, "When you were a baby, to keep the Vampire traits at bay. It's been starting to wear off now . . . and there was no way I could administer another dose without you noticing . . ."

"You lied to me," Vitani chocked out, "You lied to me my whole life? You used a spell to keep me in the dark? Not only did you not tell me who my father was. . . but you lied to me about who _I _was? I-I can't believe you would do something like that. . ."  
"Vitani, it was for your own good," my mom insisted.

"My own good!" she exclaimed, "These past few days I've been _starving. _And no matter how much I ate nothing helped . . . and my throat was killing me! I was so thirsty and no matter how much I drank it didn't go away! All that because I needed blood! And I could feel myself getting stronger . . . all of that. . . because I'm half vampire?"  
"Yes," my mother said quietly.

"When were you planning on telling me this?" she asked in a tight voice.  
"Tonight," she answered, "That's why I insisted on your coming."

"No . . . you insisted on me coming because you like to see me suffer!" she screamed, reaching out and shooting a bolt of lightning at one of the columns. It struck in the center, causing the column to crack in half as thunder rattled through the Council room. The column crumbled, falling away from us thankfully.

"And you know what?" she shouted, "I'm sick of this and I'm sick of you! I'm out of here!" She ran over to the doors, moving faster then any witch I'd ever seen. She yanked the doors open, pulling them completly on the hinges before discarding them. Sometimes I forgot how powerful Vampires were. They just worked pretty hard to control their strength most of the time that I forgot what they were capable of when they put their mind to it.

"And you know what else?" she asked, turning around to face us, fangs exposed, which looked oddly perfect on Vitani, "I hate you!" With one last of bolt of lightning at the ceiling, she stormed out. Once the following thunder quieted, an awkward silence followed.

"So . . . " my dad said, sounding oddly composed considering he'd just found out he had another daughter, "Since we're on the topic of controversal issues, now would be a good time to tell you, Aella, that we think you and Austeralgo should get married."  
"Excuse me, what!" I exclaimed.

"Married?" Austin repeated in shock.  
"Yes. It would make sense. It would be much easier, legally, if you two get married. That way, Austeralgo will be the Prince by marriage and the Arthasians won't keep pushing for a marriage between him and Aurora," he explained.

"But-but we're too young to get married!" I exclaimed, "We're only seventeen!"  
"Weren't you just going on and on about how you're techniqually seventy two?" Oddyseus asked.

"Fine, then Austin's too young," I edited, "Is that better?" He just shrugged.  
"Well Aella, you two are Blood Bound, right?" my father asked.

"Yeah but . . ." I mumbled.  
"And do you think you'd ever want to be with anybody else?" he asked.

"No but-" I mumbled.  
"Then there's nothing stopping you two from getting married," he said.

"Yeah but . . . it's not just my oppionon that matters . . . it's also what Austin wants," I said, "And Austin doesn't want to get married, right Austin."  
"Well not-not like now-or anything?" he stumbled over the words.

"Austeralgo," my dad said, "Do you love my daughter."  
"Yes . . . I do but I don't know if-" he stuttered.

"And do you ever want to be with anybody else?" he asked.  
"No . . . but I don't think that means that we should jump into anything," he mumbled.

"Well as far as I'm concerned it's a done deal," he said, "But we'll give you two some time to think about it."  
"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled, "Time, time is good."

"Yeah, lots of time," Austin agreed.  
"Excellent, well I think that concludes this destructive and overall catastrophic meeting," he said, "I'll see you all here next week. Prima, would you mind staying a little longer? I think we have some things to discuss."

Like hell you do . . .

"C'mon," Austin said, grabbing my hand, "Let's get out of here."  
"Yeah seriously," I agreed, "When we get home we have a _lot _to talk about."

It was true, but really, talking wasn't the only thing I wanted. I really just wanted to spend time with Austin. It'd been so long since we'd had time alone. And I was starting to miss our lovey-dovey moments. I needed more time with my Aussie and I was going to get it.


	41. Animal I have Become

_**Vitani's POV**_

I stalked around Ate for hours after I stormed out of the Council building. I knew what I was looking for but I would have to wait 'til night before I could get what I wanted. So, for a while I just stomped around the worst neighborhood in Hades, knocking stuff over, breaking things, and picking fights with just about anyone who looked at me funny. By the time it was late and most of the street lights were off, I began my hunt.

I wasn't just looking for anybody though, I was looking for a Vampire. I saw a few, but none of them were what I was looking for. It took a while before I found the one. A Vampire, a guy, was hanging out in a filthy alley, looking overconfident and arrogant. He was a tall, dark haired, teenager who looked a little older then me . . . he was perfect.

I slinked into the alley and said, "Out hunting I see." I was kicking into cryptic hostile Vitani mode-the one I saved for people I either just met or strongly disliked.  
"What's it you little witch girl? You in the Blood Donor business?" he taunted.

"Hardly," I said vaguely, pacing back and forth in front of him, like a panther cornering her prey. Which was exactly what I was doing.  
"Then maybe you should run along little girl," he said, "We wouldn't want your mommy to worry."

"Wrong," I said, smiling threateningly, "We do want her to worry."  
"I don't have a clue what you're up to kid," he snarled, "But I suggest you get out of here before I really give your mommy something to worry about."

"Oh a threat," I said in an observant voice, "Overconfident I see. What makes you think you could take me?"  
"The fact that you probably weigh about as much as my girlfriend's toy poodle," he retorted, "I could crush you without effort little witch."

"Let's see about that," I said, pausing in front of him and cracking my knuckles, "Ready? . . . On the count of three."  
He looked like he was anxious to harm me while he cracked his neck and smiled a fang showing smile at me.

"One . . ." I said slowly, turning around and taking a few steps away from him.  
"Two . . ." I said and then suddenly whipped around and zapped him with a time freezing spell. He was frozen in place, staring at me with the confused expression he'd been wearing when I spun around.

Smiling slightly to myself, I approached him and stood directly in front of him, my head just about reached his chin. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled his motionless body down so that he was slumped against the wall. It was easy, since I got absolutely no resistance. Then I pushed his body down so he was lieing flat on his back on the dirty ground. My next move was to put a lethargy spell on him. I may be stronger then he thought, but he was still stronger then me. Once the spell was complete, I climbed on top of him and pressed my mouth to his neck.

Once I was in my perfect position, I unfroze him.  
"What the-" he began, startled. It made sense-as far as he was concerned, he was just standing against the wall and now he was pinned underneath me.

"Three," I murmured against his skin just before sinking my fangs into his neck. He yelped in surprise at me being a Vampire but I could hardly hear it. I was lost in my own bliss. I had never tasted blood before, other then my own, and it was like nothing else in the world. I wasn't like a normal Vampire-growing up on blood my whole life. So this first taste was nothing any other born Vampire had ever experienced before, I was sure. And not only was I drinking blood for the first time, I was drinking Vampire blood, the best of all blood according to Vampires. Many claimed that it just seemed better because it was rewarding to have bested another Vampire.

But I was sure that this blood, right here, was the best thing on the entire planet. Nothing else mattered as it slid down my throat. It was impossible to describe the flavor, I wasn't sure it even had a specific flavor. It was everything. It was sweet and sour. It was strong and light. It was hot and cold. It was spicy and mild. It was everything and anything that mattered. It was better then being in love. It was better then kissing Athan, better then kissing Attis. It was better then fighting and better then magic. It was unbelievable that something this amazing ran in everyone's veins and they didn't even know it. The most delectable substance on earth was living in their veins and they had no idea.

I didn't ever want to stop. But after a while, the ecstacy started to fade and the guy's pained whimpers and feeble struggles began to get my attention. With a large amount of willpower, I took my teeth out of his neck. I straightened up so that I was looking down at him with my knees on either side of his waist. Blood was slowly dripping out of bruised bite mark on his neck. His eyes were closed and he was making these pathetic moaning sounds.

I immediately got off of him and walked away. Just as I was about to leave the alley, I made the mistake of looking back at him. He was lieing on the filthy ground with his head lolled to the side, exposing the bloody bite. He moaned feebly, seeming barely conscious. Unfortunately, a wave of guilt spread through me. Not only had I put a lethargy spell on him but I'd probably drank too much. Who knew what could happen to him if I left him here, weak and defenseless.

I tried to convince myself that I was a Vampire now; I couldn't care about my prey. But it didn't work. The witch in me, the part that just _had_to have compassion for all living things, beat the callous Vampire side. Cursing myself mentally, I went back over to where he lay, barely conscious on the dirty ground. Sighing, I knelt down next to him and looked at him. He looked nothing like the cocky Vampire guy he'd been when I found him. He looked weak, vulnerable, pathetic even. I'd stripped him of his self respect and pride.

But that's what Vampires did best.


	42. Because The Night

**Because The Night**

"Oh my God," Austin moaned underneath me, "That . . .feels . . . _amazing_."  
"See," I said smugly, "I told you you'd love it."

"Hell yeah I . . . do."  
"Never underestimate the power of a good back rub," I told him. When we'd gotten back to the Kardigan's we'd went straight upstairs with the vague excuse that we needed to talk about the Council meeting. We really did need to talk, but I didn't need Austin being all stressed while we did. We were going to have to get into some difficult topics and I needed him to be relaxed. I'd offered to give him a back massage to chill him out but he hadn't wanted one. With some goading, he'd finally conceded. He ended up lieing on his stomach on his bed, shirtless. I hovered above him with my knees on either side of his stomach.

"Yeah . . . you want one?" he asked, although by the near moan in his voice he didn't sound particularly inclined to end this.  
"Sure . . . but I'm not done yet," I said as I tried to unknot the muscles of his shoulders.

"Oh . . .kay."  
"So uh, what do you think about the whole marriage thing?" I asked casually.

"Mmmmm . . . sounds good," he mumbled in a voice suggesting that I could ask if he'd like to partake in human sacrifice right now and he'd go along with it.  
"But do you think we should do it?" I asked.

"I don't see why not," he said, sounding like he was making an effort to pay attention, "I mean, we belong together right? Besides, it doesn't have to be a big thing or anything, right? We could get married in Hades and no one else would have to know."  
"I guess . . . but I've always wanted a big wedding. I know that doesn't sound like me, but what girl doesn't want a beautiful wedding?" I continued, "I mean, I'd really like my family and friends be able to see us get married."

"Mhm . . .well we could always get married now in Hades and then have another wedding in a few years for the humans," he suggested.  
"I guess . . .I don't like it though," I said, continuing giving Austin a massage, "I think we should talk to my dad about it at the next meeting."

"Anything you want baby," he mumbled.  
"So . . . what do you think about the whole Vitani thing?" I wondered, "Crazy huh?"

"Yeah . . .I always knew there was something off about that chick," he murmured.  
I laughed. "It's weird though," I continued, "I mean, now she's my full sister, and half vamp. Plus it means that my mom and dad . . .had sex after they split up. Which is just beyond freaky."

"Sometimes I hear my parents doing it," he said with an observational, distant voice, "That's the problem with Vampire senses. It's pretty disturbing . . .I even threw up once."  
"How attractive," I muttered.

"Mmmmmm."  
"Well, I think I'm about done here," I said, "My turn."

"Noooo . . . don't stop," he begged.  
"Well you shouldn't have offered then," I said, stopping and getting off of him.

"Fine," he grumbled, getting up and scowling at me, "That's what I get for being nice."  
"Haha," I said, about to lay down on his bed.

"Uh uh uh," he said, shaking his head at me with a smirk on his face, "No shirt."  
"I'm not wearing a shirt-I'm wearing a dress," I pointed out.

"I'm shirtless, hence you should be shirtless," he said, "It's only fair. Besides, I've been dating you for two months and I have never even seen you completely topless. And with all my other girlfriends I'm usually getting some by the second date. So I think I've been more then patient with you."  
"Oh fine oh fine," I muttered, "You win. But I'm not having sex with you-not now-not after what happened to Kate."

"Okay, understandable, now get with the stripping," he instructed.  
I glowered, but proceeded to shimmy out out of my dress. Austin stared at me with appreciation as I stood there in my plain light blue panties and black bra.

"Nice," he said, "Now the bra."  
"Now what makes you think you can tell me what to do?" I snapped.

"Oh c'mon, I went to the stupid Council meeting for you," he complained, "And saved your sister from killing herself. _And _comforted you when Ken got stabbed. _And _got you a new cell phone. I think the least you could do is let me get to second base."  
"Oh fine," I grumbled, "You're lucky I could never live without that cellphone."

"Yeah yeah yeah, now strip for me my love," he teased.  
"Dork," I muttered, undoing my bra clasp and shrugging out of it. Austin stared at me with a blank expression of surprise for a moment.

"You okay there?" I asked teasingly.  
He recovered and a grin spread across his face. "Now that's what I'm talking about," he said, rushing forward and grabbing my waist as he began to pepper my neck in affectionate kisses. I giggled uncharacteristically as he knocked me over onto the bed and still continued to kiss me.

"Hey, hey," I said, pushing him away, "Not yet. I still want my massage."  
He grumbled but got off me. "You're such a tease," he complained. I snickered and shifted into a better position so that I was lieing correctly on the bed and then rolled over onto my stomach.

"Commence," I commanded jokingly, clapping my hands together once as I propped myself up on my elbows.  
He snorted and I knew he was rolling his eyes. I could feel him climbing on the bed and hovering above me. He began to massage my shoulders and my back and I felt my muscles relax.

"Now _that's _what I'm talking about," I said, quoting him.  
"Yeah, yeah, live it up," he said, "But keep in mind that most people would consider this foreplay, and foreplay is intended to be a prelude to sex."

"Yeah I don't think so," I said, "Not only does the whole Kate thing have me totally freaked out. But, let's not forget that you have three broken ribs."  
"Three nearly healed broken ribs," he corrected.

"Still, I don't think is the best time for you to be rolling around with me," I pointed out.  
"Oh contraire my love, it is _always _a good time to be rolling around with you," he said and I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"You're such a guy," I mumbled, "A kinky, kinky guy . . ."  
"Give me a break," he said, "I haven't had sex in over two months."

"And I haven't had sex in . . . oh wait ever," I said sarcastically.  
"First of all, it's different if your not a virgin," he said, "Speaking of which, you are a virgin right?"

"Don't be stupid Austin," I said, "You know that I am."  
"I mean in like all your other lives."

"I was a virgin in all of those too," I said.  
"Good. . .or else I'd have to find whoever he is and kill him," he told me, "Well, if he wasn't already dead."

"Well that hardly seems fair," I pointed out, "If I tried to kill all the girls you had sex with it would take me years." I snickered at my own joke even if Austin didn't.  
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up Callaway," he said, "But you want to know what I think?"

"Oh no . . . you're not thinking again are you?" I asked with mock concern, "I told you it wasn't a good idea. You're going to hurt that pretty blonde head of yours."  
"Are you calling me stupid?"

"Oh don't worry honey. You're pretty you don't have to be smart," I teased.  
"May I remind you that I get better grades then you?" he said.

"Be that as it may Blondie," I said, "You're a Vampire so you have a really good memory. But I still think I'm smarter."  
"If I say yes can we get with the fucking?" he asked, halting my massage.

"How about if you say yes then we can get with the making out and groping," I suggested.  
"Then yes," he said.

"Yes what?" I prompted, just to screw with him.  
"Yes you, my darling angel are much smarter then I," he said in a highly sarcastic voice, "Could ever hope to be.

"Are your fingers crossed?" I asked suspiciously.  
"No, of course not," he said, still being sarcastic.

I rolled over so that I was on my back, looking up at him. He was hovering above me with his knees on either side of my waist. He stared at me, well not so much at me as at my chest. Well, I couldn't blame him, considering I was half naked. His fingers_ were_ crossed.  
"You little liar," I said, smiling.

"It's not lieing," he said, "If my fingers are already crossed."  
"Whatever liar."

"Hey, this doesn't affect our deal," he said, "I was promised making out and groping,"  
"Well . . . if that's what you want," I said teasingly in a voice that suggested that I wasn't looking foward to it, even though I was.

"Well I think I have a pretty good idea of what you want," he said, slowly grinning to reveal his extended fangs.  
"Oh God yes!" I rejoiced, "I haven't had a bite in . . . like over a week!"

"Ahhh you poor baby," he said sarcastically, "I haven't had a bite in . . . like three months. And let me tell you, I'm particularly ecstatic about that."  
"Yeah, yeah, but that's because you find it degrading," I pointed out, "And I find it amazing. So, get on with it."

Grinning, he leaned in and brushed my dark hair over my shoulder. He leaned in even closer and pressed his lips to my neck. I could feel the sharp points of his fangs press against my skin and realized how anxious I really was for a bite. When his fangs sunk into my flesh the pain was like a shock. Back when I'd gotten a bite every day I'd hardly noticed the pain, but now that Austin was drinking pixie blood to heal he hadn't fed from me in over a week. I'd forgotten how sharp his fangs were and how much they hurt when they pierced my skin and into my veins. The pain faded fast though and the euphoria I loved so much started as drips of venom seeped into my veins.

A warm feeling started at the point of the bite and filled my neck and head. It spread down my chest and down to my legs. The warmth stayed and a tingly sensations sprung up in my finger tips and toes. The warmth spread up my spine before shifting to an icy feeling that went back down my spine; causing me to shiver, partially from cold and partially from pleasure. The feelings inside me kept switching back and forth from warm to cold; like a tennis match inside my body.

Too soon, I felt his fangs sliding out of my neck. I moaned as his lips slid up my neck to my jaw. He dotted my jawline with kisses while I lay there, drowning in ecstasy. Once he did that, his lips trailed up to my lips and crushed against them. We hadn't had a good old fashioned make out session in a while-there hadn't been time. So it felt good to get back to that. As the kiss continued I wrapped my arms around Austin and he tangled his fingers into my dark curls. He started to nibble on my bottom lip and his still extended fangs peirced my lower lip. Blood welled out of the tiny cut and coated my lip, along with the venom dripping out of Austin's fangs. The drops that seeped into my cut gave me an extra boost of euphoria.

He pulled away for a quick moment as we both caught our breath. Panting heavily, I licked my bottom lip. The taste of Austin's sweet venom overrode the coppery taste of my blood. Vampire venom had a tendency to taste like whatever your favorite flavor was; so Austin's venom always tasted like blueberries to me. . .sweet, sweet blueberries. Anxious for more, I reached up and grabbed Austin, my nails digging into his bare back as I pulled him down towards me. He crushed his lips to mine again. The making out continued for a long time before he pulled away again. It had to be at least ten minutes before we finally broke apart again.

"Having . . . fun?" he panted sarcastically.  
"You know it," I gasped, "What about . . . you?"

"Defiantly."  
"So . . . aren't I a way better kisser then . . . then all your other girlfriends?" I asked teasingly in a breathy voice.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say somebody sounds jealous," he teased.  
"Me? Jealous? Of those bimbs?" I asked, "I don't think so."

"May I ask why?" he wondered, starting to catch his breath, "Besides that they're bimbos?"  
Reaching up to intertwine my fingers into his hair I said, "Because, they'll always have the memories but I'll always have you."

"Forever and always babe."


	43. Girls Night Out

**Girls Night Out**

"Kate . . . what would you say if I told you I was . . . thinking about going on the pill?" I asked cautiously, peaking at her from the corner of my eye.  
"I'd say . . ._WHAT!" _

It was the next day and Kate and I were at the mall, looking at clothes. I'd slept over the Kardigan's last night - but I'd hardly slept at all. I'd spent the whole night with Austin . . . but we hadn't had sex or anything. We'd done quite a few interesting things though. And it had got me thinking. I really, really, _really _wanted to sleep with Austin. For God's sake I'd gone through four lifetimes without doing it, it was getting a little ridiculous. Besides, an Austin abstaining from sex for so long was an Austin who was slowly loosing his mind.

"I'm thinking about going on the pill," I repeated, trying to busy myself by leafing through a clothing rack to avoid looking at her.  
"Wait - like _the _pill," demanded Kate, dropping the pink blouse she was looking at back into the clearance bin, "Like the pill, the pill?"

"Yes _the _pill," I hissed quietly, "What other pill would I possible be talking about?"  
"Wait - last night . . . did you and Austin . . ." she trailed off, making a disgusted face, "You know?"

"You mean do it?" I asked, "No. We didn't."  
"Oh thank God," she sighed in relief, "I was so totally worried. You guys were up there all night. And don't think your fooling anybody - I know you got a ton of hickeys underneath all that hair."

I wasn't one for blushing but I did feel my cheeks darken it a bit. "Shit," I muttered.  
"Yeah . . . We're on to you," she said, "Austin had the hood of his sweatshirt up all morning. And he only does _that _when he's got a crap load of hickeys he doesn't want to be hassled about."

"Damn, do you think your mom noticed?" I asked, "Because if she tries to talk to me about sex again I _will_ shoot myself."  
"No worries," she told me, "My mom's totally in the dark. She likes to pretend that me and Austin don't whore around. She even thought I was a virgin until . . . you know."

"Thank God," I sighed, "I can't take talking to my boyfriend's mom about sex . . . not again."  
She laughed. "Yeah you're safe. But umm, one thing, _why _do you want to go on the pill?"

"Well, first of all, considering your _condition _I think it would be best to be safe," I explained, "Plus . . . well, I think Austin and I are going to do it soon."  
"Ehhhhhhhhhhh!" she squealed, covering her ears, "I don't wanna know!"

"I'm just saying, the sexual tension between us is getting ridiculous," I said.  
"Ehhhh!" she repeated, "I told _you _I didn't want to know!"

"We went to second base last night," I said matter-of-factly.  
"Okay, let me say one thing, I have absoloutly no desire to hear about your sex life," she said, "But I do want to know one thing first. Just so were clear. Some people think second base means like topless feeling up . . . but other people think it means like fingering/hand job . . .so what exactly do you mean by 'second base?'"

"Ohhhhhhhhh . . . I thought it meant when a guy puts your boobs in his mouth."  
"Oh God!" she exclaimed, sounding disgusted.

"But we did all that other stuff you were talking about too," I continued, ignoring her, "So I guess either way we went to second base."  
"Ewwwww, that's freakin nasty," she said, shuddering, "Just for future reference, I don't want to ever hear about what parts of you have or have not been in my brother's mouth, understand?"

"Understood," I said, "But what do you think?"  
"About you and my brother climbing all over each other?" she asked, "Well . . . I think it's nasty of course."

"No not that. I meant about the pill."  
"I say go for it," she said with a shrug, "I mean, it would've done me a hell load of good. . ."

"True . . . But I don't know, what if my parents found out I was taking it?" I asked, "Or worse, Ken and Jake."  
"Oh I have the perfect solution," she exclaimed, "You tell them about me being pregnant and then say that you want to go on the pill . . . you know, 'just to be safe.' You don't have to tell them that you're going to get it on with my brother. They'll buy the 'just to be safe' excuse; they all do. But Jake and Ken will probably see through it. But it's not like they're going to tell your parents about that."

"Good point . . . But I don't know, won't people think I'm . . . trashy for going on the pill?"  
"Not as trashy as they'll think you are if you get pregnant. Trust me. I'm not looking foward to everyone thinking I'm a whore when I'm out here," she said, miming a baby belly with her hands.

"No one is going to think you're a whore," I reassured, trying to sound convincing as possible even though I knew it was a lie.  
She smirked thinly. "Oh don't lie," she said, "They will. I think I'm going to tell the gang on Monday. And probably Aidan. He's going to flip a bitch though - he's going to think I cheated on him. Since we never slept together. And then he'll be mad and break up with me . . . And then tell everybody that I'm pregnant. But I have to tell him anyway, because if he found out on his own it'd be way worse."

"Yeah you're probably right," I agreed, "But I'm still not sure about the pill thing. I mean, it doesn't work unless you take it correctly, right? And you know my life is crazy, what if I forget one day and the whole thing get's out of whack. . . And then I think I'm safe and we have sex without a condom and I get pregnant?"  
"Then use a freakin condom," she exclaimed.

"Well . . . do you think we'd be okay only using a condom?" I asked.  
"Well, I guess it works for most people," she said thoughtfully, "But it's only like 97% effective . . . and if you're like me and you become the other 3% . . . Well . . . Why risk it?"

"Eh I don't know what to do," I said, gripping my hair in frustration, "I mean, I want to be safe and everything. But doesn't it take like a month to start working? And there's no way either of is lasting a whole 'nother month."  
"Then use a condom and hope for the best," she said.

"But I don't like hoping," I groaned, "I like knowing."  
"Look Becca," she said, "We're just going back and forth. Okay, here's the truth, both options have downsides. You just have to choose."

"I guess I'll have to think about it more," I mused, "Maybe I'll ask Lydia. She's good at choosing for me."  
Kate laughed as she started going through the clearance bin again. "Ugh, I'm not finding anything good here. Where do you wanna go next?"

"Uh . . . _Victoria's Secret_?" I suggested, sounding a little more meek then usual.  
"_Victoria's Secret?" _she repeated, sounding surprised. I couldn't blame her. I tried to avoid that store whenever possible.

"Yeah . . . I mean, I don't have any sexy underwear," I pointed out, "And seeing as I plan on sleeping with your brother I figured-"  
"Okay, okay, I get it," she said, raising her hands in a 'stop' signal, "Say no more. I'll help you find some sexy lingerie if you _stop _talking about screwing my brother. Please, I beg of you."

"Agreed," I said, "C'mon let's go." We left the store and headed over to _Victoria's Secret.  
_"So . . . Seeing as your so distressed over the whole pill situation," she said as we walked, "I'm guessing your over the whole wanting to kill Lisa thing - right?"

I sighed. "Yeah I guess. I mean, I was really upset about it at first. But now, I realized that it won't make a difference. She's going to die anyway . . . and I can't really see myself being able to bring myself to kill her. I mean, if she had killed Ken then it'd be a different story. But all that matters is that Ken is alive and Lisa is going to pay for all the horrible things she's done. It doesn't matter if I'm the one who does it."

"Good . . . Holding grudges isn't healthy," she said as we walked into _Victoria's Secret. _I cringed as we passed by all the girly, and in some cases slutty, underwear. The more lace and frills I passed the more I questioned why I even wanted to come here in the first place.

"So . . . what exactly are you looking for?" Kate wondered, lazily looking at lacey panties. I guess she was used to buying flamboyant underwear . . .  
"I don't know . . . What do you think Austin would like?" I asked.

"How the hell should I know?" she demanded, "He's my brother! And we're not into incest so . . . you're going to have to ask someone whose slept with him. Like, I don't know, half of the girls in our school?"  
"Oh shut up," I said, shoving her shoulder, "I'm serious - I have no idea what to get."

"Don't worry - I'm an expert at this," she said, halting in her examination of lacey underwear. She walked over to a rack full of underwear sets. "Okay, the key is to get things that match. Preferably in sets," she told me as she looked at them, "Now, to be honest a guy isn't going to really care what you're wearing if you're willing to sleep with him. But, it makes you feel better about yourself, which makes you feel less nervous, which hence makes it a better experience. Still, if you play it right, a guy will pay attention to what you wear."

"Okay . . . so what _should _I wear?" I asked.  
"I'm thinking this," she said, taking a set of slutty underwear off the rack, "The second rule is it _has _to show a lot of skin." Her choice was a pink bra with black lace and a black and pink, matching, lacey thong.

"I am not wearing that," I said, "It's way too slutty."  
"Oh c'mon," she urged, "It looks like it'd fit you! And you could throw in some fishnet garters and some sexy high heels. Surprise him, wearing this, with some kind of romantic set up. It'd be great!"

"I don't know," I said, "I'm not a fan of the thong."  
"Okay, what about this one?" she asked, "It looks a little more your style." The next one she held up was a black push up bra trimmed in red lace and lacey red panties outlined in black lace.

"Hmmmm . . . better," I allowed.  
"See? Now go try it on," she commanded, throwing it at me and pushing me towards the changing room.

I went into the changing room and tried on the tramp-ish underwear. I looked in the mirror and was baffled. They fit well - and the push up bra made my already impressive boobs look totally massive - which was nice. Not to mention, that it showed an awful lot of skin. I figured that with those garters, heels, and some nice make-up, I could pull this off. So, I changed back into my regular clothes and grabbed my finds on the way out.

I found Kate looking through a contained full of thongs. "I'm gonna get it," I said.  
"Awesome," she said, "Maybe Austin will be less annoying that he's finally going to sleep with you."

"I doubt it," I said, laughing as we went to the cash register, "He's slept with dozens of girls and he'd just as annoying as he was when he was a virgin."  
"Which was when exactly?" she asked, "Like seventh grade?"

"I don't know, nor do I want to know," I told her.  
"Hell I don't even know when or who to he lost his virginity," she said.

"Yeah I'd kinda feel weird asking," I said, "You lost yours when? Ninth grade?"  
"Summer of eighth," she corrected, "I will never get over your reaction . . ."

"Well can you blame me?" I asked, "We're playing truth or dare and I suddenly find out my best friend's not a virgin. How am I supposed to react to that?"  
"I don't know . . . _My _best friend is still a virgin," she teased.

"Not for long," I said mischievously, "Seeing as I plan on laying your brother."  
"I thought we promised not to talk about what you and my brother do alone," she warned just as we were next in line.

I gave the clerk the set and she rung it up. "Yeah I know . . . but your reactions amuse me."  
We both laughed as the clerk said, "That'll be $60.47," she told me.

"Jesus," I muttered, reaching into my pocket and handing her three twenties and a one.  
She gave me my change, just a few cents, as Kate said, "Beauty costs," as the woman bagged my purchase.

"I believe the expression is 'beauty hurts,'" I corrected as I grabbed my bag and left.  
"It still applies," she said just as a little blonde girl suddenly ran into us, breathing hard.

"Vitani?"


	44. Hotel Room Service

**Hotel Room Service**

"The one and only," she said, "Well, that I know of." Vitani looked like she'd been out all night. She was wearing the same clothes she'd been wearing the day before, the hoodie with the ripped jeans over green fishnets. Her short hair was ruffled and her cheeks were faintly flush. Her eyes were glittering excitedly.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded.  
"Talking to you."

"I meant why," I corrected.  
"To avoid _our _annoying-as-fuck parents," she said.

"How the hell did you even get here?" I asked, as we all slowly drifted over to the side to be more out of the way.  
"I took a taxi," she said seeming exasperation, "Now are we done with the third degree?"

"No . . . You shouldn't be here; mom's probably worried sick about you," I told her.  
"Good," she snapped, "I hope she drives herself _insane _with worry."

"Jeez, I hope my baby doesn't hate me as much as you hate your mother," Kate mumbled, her hands on her stomach.  
"That isn't even possible," she hissed acidly.

"C'mon Vitani I have to take you home," I said, reaching out to grab her arm.  
"Touch me and I'll scream," she threatened.

She'd do it too . . .

"Vitani this is ridiculous," I said, "Mom's the first witch - tracking you wouldn't even be a challenge. She could come get you any second."  
"_Could. _But she won't. She knows I'm majorly pissed and would flip a bitch if she came after me."

She had a good point . . .  
"You should still go talk to her," I said, "You guys need to talk about what happened."

"Bla bla bla, uck, you sound like mom," she muttered, leaning up against a wall lazily, "There's nothing to talk about anyway. She's a bitch and I'm sick of it. There's no 'feelings' involved. It's just plain old anger. You of all people should get that."

Not cool. I ignored the snipe though. "Are you sure about that? Are you sure you don't feel betrayed? Like you can't trust your own mother?" I asked, trying to get her to cave and show some feelings.

"Of course I can't trust _our_ mother," she said breezily, "I've never been able to trust her. She's callous. She always has her best interests in mind."  
"You know that's not true."

"She's a liar," she snapped, "She always has been."  
"No she's not," I said.

"Oh really? Then why don't you go ask her who your grandpa is? She'll tell you it's Zephorous - that it was just another fling of theirs . . . Just like my conception. But that's a lie. Because your mom certainly didn't get those puppy dog brown eyes from my daddy," she hissed icidly.

"I will ask," I said, trying to sound confident but I was starting to see where she was coming from. Zephorous - my first dad - had yellow eyes and my mom - the one in this life - did have brown eyes. She couldn't of gotten those from Prima or Zephorous. Vitani had a point.

"You do that," she said, "I can assure you she'll lie."  
"Vitani, why are you so bitter?" I demanded, "Your life isn't that bad."

"Oh really? Let's review. I just found out I was a disgusting half breed. My mother, I'm just now realizing, is a total whore. Who just happens to have lied to me my entire life about various things. My dad, who I just found out is my dad, is a complete manipulator. A perfect match for my mother actually. I nearly killed someone last night. Not to mention that I'm in love with two guys at the same time - one of which is a total jackass I might add. So, yeah, pretty suckish."

"Wait wait wait, rewind," I said, "Before I get back to the fact that you nearly killed someone last night - what do you mean your in love with two guys?"  
"Yeah turns out I still love Attis," she said with a shrug, "Ironic, I know."

"You still love Attis?" I demanded.  
Just as Kate said, "When did you start?"

"Yeah I know, I don't get it either," she said, "But you gotta admit, we are very similar."  
"Be that as it may, I thought you loved Athan," I said it like a question.

"I do - but I don't know. You wouldn't understand," she told me, "You're Blood Bound. Your relationship is simple. You love Austin and Austin loves you, that's all there is to it. You don't know what it's like to not know how you feel."

"Granted . . . but seriously? Attis?" I demanded, "He's awful."  
"Hey, if we're gonna start taking shots at each other's 'boyfriends' I might add that yours is a whore," she said.

"Hey! Leave him alone," I snapped.  
"See? Not so funny now is it?"

"Well at least he never tried to rape me," I pointed out. Yeah, I knew all about that. My mom had told me.  
"I'm sure Austin's mind raped you a million times," she assured me.

"Shut up,"  
"You shut up," she retorted.

"Hey hey hey," Kate interrupted, "You're sisters - stop fighting."  
"Oh give me a break," I said, "You and Austin fight like dogs."

"We're brother and sister - that's different," she insisted.  
"Whatever, I only came here to hang out and you had to get all on my case," Vitani said.

"Fine, you wanna hang out? Let's hang out," I said with a little too much venom perhaps.  
"Yeah it'll be fun. We were just talking about Austin and Becca finally having sex," Kate said.

"Hey! Don't tell her that," I exclaimed. This was my little sister for Christ's sake!  
"Wait - you two haven't had sex yet?" Vitani demanded, "Haven't you been dating for like three months?"

"First of all, it's only been like a little over two months," I corrected, "And yes, we haven't had sex yet."  
"Why?" she asked simply.

Both Kate and I exchanged a confused glance.  
"Hmmm, that's a good question," I mumbled, "I don't know actually."

"How do you not know?" she asked, "He had to be pushing for it, and you had to be saying no. Why?"  
"Well . . .I guess it used to be because I thought my brothers - your nephews - would find out," I said, "You don't know them, but they're real pains in the ass. Plus they think I'm this big whore and they hate Austin. So I always thought they'd somehow find out and give me hell about it. And then I kinda got over that . . . but then Kate got pregnant. So that had me all worried . . ."

"Then go on the pill," she suggested as we started walking.  
"We were just talking about that," Kate jumped in, "But she thinks people will think she's a whore for going on the pill."

"Not as many as will think she's a whore if she get's pregnant," Vitani muttered.  
"That's what I was saying!" Kate exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes. "That's not the only reason I'm not so keen on the idea," I explained, "First off, you have to take it every day at the same time for it to work, and my life is so busy that I would probably forget. And then I'd have sex thinking I was safe and then bam, I'd get pregnant. Plus, if my parents found out I was taking it I'd be screwed. Or worse, if Austin's parents found out - his mom already tried to talk about to me about sex. Lastly, it takes like a month to start working . . .And I can't wait a month."

"Wait - back up," Vitani said, "Did you just say _keen_?"  
"That's not the point," I told her.

"Who says _keen _anymore?"  
"Vitani, that's beside the point," I said.

"Okay, okay," she agreed, "But rewind for a sec, did you say that Austin's _mom_ tried to talk to you about sex?"  
"Yeah, after she found out Kate was pregnant," I told her, "She wanted to make sure I wasn't laying her precious son."

Vitani just burst out laughing. After a moment, Kate joined in.  
"I don't get why this funny," I said.

Vitani calmed herself after a minute but Kate kept giggling. "That's hysterical," she said, smirking thinly like she was trying to keep laughter in, "I can just imagine your face."  
"It was so not funny," I told her, "It was traumatizing."

"I'm sure it was," she said, "I won't even let my own mother talk to me about sex. I go to public school; I know more about sex then she could ever tell me."  
"You go to public school?" I asked, surprised.

"I do now," she said, "I used to go to a private school but I got sick of it so I transferred."  
"Oh . . . " I said, "But I'm serious about the whole pill thing; I don't know what to do."

"I say take it," Kate jumped in.  
"I say don't," Vitani told me.

"Why not?" I wondered.  
"Because, aside from your usage of the word 'keen,' you made some good points on why not to take it," she said, "Just use a condom and be done with it."

"I don't know . . . "I trailed off.  
"God your so indecisive," Vitani muttered in exasperation.

"I know right," Kate said, "You should've seen her in _Victoria's Secret. _Going back and forth on whether or not to buy some slutty underwear."  
"What?" she demanded.

"Oh right, Becca's planning a romantic set up for her first time with Austin," Kate clued her in.  
"Oh . . . where are you gonna do it?" she wondered. I buried my face in my hands; how come everybody else was so nonchalant talking about my sex life except for me?

"You know, I was just thinking about that," Kate said, "You can't do it at the house Becca; we'll hear you guys. Mom would flip a bitch and it wouldn't be pretty."  
"Then where?" I wondered, "I can't do it at my house."

"Get a hotel suite," Vitani suggested.  
"There aren't any hotels around Cold Springs," I told her.

"Yeah but there's a ton in Hades. There's this really nice one in Belladonna, _The Niad. _Five stars and everything. I love it there; it'd be perfect," Vitani told me.  
"And how exactly would I pay for this?" I asked.

"No worries, I got you covered," she said, pulling a black shiny credit card out of her pocket, "I'll set the whole thing up. What day you want it?"  
"I can't ask you to do that," I said.

"Sure you can," she said, "It's not like it's my money; it's mom's money. _Our _mom's money."  
"Well, okay . . ." I agreed.

"Awesome, when should I set it up for?" she wondered.  
"Friday," I decided, "This Friday."


	45. Kids In Love

**Kids In Love**

Monday morning was . . . hectic. I hated to admit it, but I'd dressed up (or should I say down) for Austin that day. I was trying to build up to my sexy surprise for him on Friday. I'd worn black skinny jeans with a low cut, clingy blood red blouse. I'd wanted to pin my hair up, but was forced to leave it down to hide all my hickeys. I'd done my makeup all pretty and put on some short black boots. When leaving the house though I'd had to put a sweatshirt on so Jake (Ken was still sleeping since he'd just gotten out of the hospital and wasn't going back to school yet) wouldn't see my outfit.

I'd slipped out the door and walked over to the Kardigan's. When I walked in the front door Jupiter and Mars were sitting at the table while Diablo sat on the counter sipping what I assumed was blood from a green mug and Domingo leaned against the fridge eating a plate of eggs.

"Hey guys," I said, shrugging my sweatshirt off and hanging it up on the coat rack.  
"Whoa, _hell-oo,_" Jupiter said, his eyes widening while his brother wolf-whistled.

"Looks like the Callaway twins have come to play," Diablo said.  
"I don't see Ken and Jake here . . ." I said with mock density.

"Actually I was referring to your breasts," he said, "But I can see how there's a double meaning there. An unfortunate occurrence."  
Jupiter and Mars snickered while Domingo and I rolled our eyes.

"You are so stupid," Domingo noted.  
"Eh, you got a girl pregnant," Diablo said breezily, "You can't judge me."

"Shut it ginger," Domingo snapped.  
"Damn dogs," he muttered.

"When I tell Austin that you were looking at my boobs I hope he pounds you into pudding," I told Diablo.  
"It's not my fault. You're the one whose displaying the candy," he accused, making a vague gesture at my chest.

"I'm not displaying it for _you_," I snapped.  
"Oh right, I forgot," Jupiter chimed in, "All this gorgeous eye candy is reserved for Count Pretty Boy."

"Go to hell douche bag," came Austin's voice as he strode into the kitchen. He had a collared shirt on underneath his hoodie, concealing most of the hickeys I'd given him.  
"Speak of the devil," Mars muttered.

"And _I _will appear," he chimed in and went over to Diablo and stole his mug.  
"Hey!" Diablo complained.

"Stop looking _at_ my girlfriend's chest," he said, gesturing to me with the mug, "Only I'm allowed to do that."  
I laughed as Kate skipped into the kitchen. She had a light lavender sweatshirt on over dark blue jeans. Her long hair tumbled nearly down to her thin waist.

"Whoa," she said when she looked at me, "Who invited the girls?"  
The guys laughed including Austin, even Domingo cracked a smile. "Oh shut it preggers," I snapped.

"If only I'd gone on the pill like you," she said, smirking devishly. It was the kind of evil thing only your best friend would say.  
"You're on the _pill_?" Jupiter exclaimed while Austin chocked on the blood he was drinking.

"I am not!" I exclaimed, flushing deeply, "I _considered_ going on the pill, that's different."  
"Since when are you two having sex?" Diablo demanded, looking back and forth between me and Austin, "I thought she was holding out on you."

Accusingly, I turned to glare at Austin who was trying to control his wild coughing. He told his friends that I refused to have sex with him? What else did he tell them? Did he tell them about all the stuff we did the other night? Sure I told Kate all about that but that was different; that was girl talk. When girls talked about guys it was more for an opinion and to vent; guys just did it to brag

"Austin," I hissed, "What did you tell them?"  
He raised a finger, silently telling me to wait a minute while he coughed and chocked. After a minute his coughing ceased and he breathed, "What?"

"I asked you a question," I said, "You can't answer a question with a question!"  
"I was referring to the fact that _you're on the pill!_" he exclaimed.

"I'm not on the pill," I tried to explain, "I _thought _about going on the pill, _thought. _I just didn't want to get pregnant like Kate."  
"How could you _possibly _get pregnant?" he demanded, "_We are not having any sex_!"

"Well I was _going_ to sleep with you," I said, "But now that you've upset me I do not know."  
"Crap," he muttered as the rest of the room snickered.

"Now c'mon you," I said, striding forward and grabbing his wrist, "We'll continue this conversation in the car."  
"Thanks a lot of guys," he muttered darkly, barely getting a chance to put his mug down before I dragged him out the front door. I grabbed his keys off the key rack before I did.

"I don't know why you're mad at me," he said as I dragged him off the porch and into his car.  
"Because you told your friends I wouldn't sleep with you!" I said as I sat down in the driver's seat and slammed the door.

"Would you rather I told them that you were a big easy skank who did everything?" he asked, closing his door.  
"No but - I don't like you talking about us to your friends," I said quietly, "What happens in your bedroom _stays _in your bedroom."

"No it doesn't," he said simply, "I know that you tell your friends about what we do. All girls do. It's one of the most annoying things about your gender."  
"Oh fine you win," I sighed, "I was mad for no reason."

"Good, now what that about us having sex?" he asked, smirking.  
"Shut up," I snapped, "I refuse to talk about it or else it would ruin it."

"Ruin what?" he demanded as I started the car.  
"Exactly," I said.  
He gave me confused look. "Your entire gender is insane," he informed me.

"Hey, you should be grateful that I'm considering sleeping with you," I muttered as I began driving.  
"Really?" he asked, "Because I don't _feel_ very grateful. Actually, I feel very kinky. Going two months without sex will do that to you."

"Yeah yeah," I mumbled, "Cry me a river."  
"Only if you'll go skinny dipping in it," he said with a smirk.

We bantered the rest of the way to school. Once we got there we were joined by Austin's friends - minus Lisa. They went on and on about how shocked they were about Lisa going pysco and attacking me. They all asked me how Ken was and told me to tell him to feel better. After all that I got a few snipes and stares because of the shirt but I'd shrugged it all off and went to join my friends. Hannah, Rachell, Diana, Mandy, and Kate.

"Oh Becca, thank God," she sighed, "I've been waiting for you. I was going to - going to tell them about . . . you know?"  
"Yeah, what the hell is going on?" Rach demanded.

"Yeah the anticipation is driving me crazy!" Mandy exclaimed.  
"Okay . . . well, better to get this over with fast," Kate said, taking a deep breath, "I'm . . . I'm pregnant."

There was a simultaneous, "YOU'RE WHAT!"  
"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," Kate hissed.

"You're having Aidan's baby!" Diana whispered frantically, "You've only been dating like two weeks! I didn't even know you two were sleeping together!"  
"We're not," she said quietly, "It's not Aidan's . . . It's a friend of Austin's . . . Domingo."

"Wait - I thought that guy was your cousin?" Hannah asked. Oh . . . we'd forgotten all about that cover story.  
"Oh no, God no," Kate said, "He's just a friend of the family. And I've . . . slept with him dozens of times . . ."

"And now . . . you're pregnant?" Mandy said slowly, seeming shocked.  
"What are you going to do?" Rach asked, "Keep it . . . or. . ."

"I'm going to keep it," she said.  
"Oh good," Hannah sighed, "Abortion is sad."

Rach and Diana rolled her eyes at her and I resisted the urge to join them.  
"You can't tell anybody okay," she whispered, "I don't want anyone finding out sooner than necessary."

"Are you going to tell Aidan?" Mandy asked in a hushed voice.  
"Well I kinda have to. When my stomach's out here," she said, miming a baby belly, "He's going to realize I cheated on him, and he'll be even more pissed. I have to tell him myself."

"You know he's going to be majorly pissed and totally tell all his friends that you're pregnant," Diana informed her.  
"Yeah I know," she sighed, "But what choice do I have?"

"I guess," Rach sighed as the first bell rung. We all went to homeroom and Kate and I continued our conversation there. The day passed in relative normalness . . . which I didn't appreciate. By the time I was apathetically sitting in science I was ready to explode from boredom. I already knew all this stuff - I'd learned it in several different lives, plus I wasn't used to things being normal.

I was half asleep when Austin walked into the room. I perked up at the sight of him. He winked at me but immediately looked away. He strode over to the teacher's desk and handed her a piece of paper. She read over it and then said, "Ms. Callaway, the principle's office," she said. There was a chorus of "ohhhhh," but I just rolled my eyes, grabbed my bag and followed Austin out of the room.

When we turned the corner Austin pushed me up against the wall with his good arm (as in the one he didn't have to pretend was broken.) He smiled devishly at me, pressing his forehead against mine and staring into my eyes.  
"I'm guessing the principle doesn't really want to see me," I breathed, my back digging into the bag I had slung over one shoulder, but I hardly noticed.

"Nope," he said, his smirk widening.  
"You're so bad," I told him, reaching up and wrapping my arms around his neck before he moved in closer and kissed me.

"I know," he murmured against my lips. I parted my lips and he slipped his tongue into my mouth. The both of our tongues danced together, metaphorically speaking of course, fighting for dominance. I reached up and tangled my fingers into his soft hair when he took his tongue out of my mouth and his lips slid away from my mouth. He trailed kisses all over my jaw and down my neck. When I felt his fangs brush against my jugular I knew that he was teasing me. In frustration I knotted my fingers harshly into his blonde locks harshly.

"You're killing me Austin," I breathed angrily. He laughed softly against my neck and his lips began moving back up towards my lips. They met mine, finally, and our former kiss was resumed. We must've stayed like that for the rest of the period because suddenly the bell rung and people flooded out of classrooms. We immedaitly pulled apart before anyone could say anything.

"To lunch?" he asked, smiling.  
"Okay," I agreed, my voice a little breathy as I tried to slow my heartrate.

God, when was it going to be Friday?


	46. You Found Me

**You Found Me**

When Friday finally came I was practically bouncing around all day. I was sure that Austin would realize that something was up, but he didn't seem too suspicious, even though he did give me wary glances every so often. It was a good day for a multitude of reasons. First off, I was going to lose my virginity that night. That's always a nice thing to look forward to. And secondly, that morning I got my magic back. I felt it come back into my body in a jolt, and I knew that Lisa was dead. I felt a twinge of regret and then I thought of the way Ken looked when they brought him into surgery, and my regret vanished.

Around nine that night, I was sitting on the Kardigan's couch with Austin's head in my lap while we watched TV. We were both lazily watching a sitcom while I ran my fingers through his hair when Kate and Domingo showed up.

"We're back from the ghino," Kate said as they walked into the living room. She shrugged off her leather jacket and her grey beanie and hung them up on the coat rack. Domingo walked in behind her, shrugging off his jacket too.

"I don't want to know," Austin said immediately.  
Kate laughed, plopping down on the loveseat. Smiling, Domingo sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"So . . . Becca," Kate said, seemingly casual, "It's almost nine . . . don't you have to go somewhere?"  
"Oh crap," I muttered, unintentionally tightening my grip on Austin's hair.

"Ow, ow, ow," he complained, sitting up a little bit while my hands pulled at his blonde locks.  
"Oh sorry," I relented, releasing his hair.

"Ow," he said, sitting up and rubbing his head, "What the hell was that for?"  
"Sorry," I said again, glancing at the clock behind me. It was nearly nine. Shit. "I just forgot that I have to go up to visit my mom in Nero this weekend," I said.

"So you decided to damage my hair follicles?" he asked.  
"I said I'm sorry okay? I just really have to get going."

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to your mom's?" he wondered curiously.  
"Uh-last minute thing," I lied, "Since I couldn't go up last weekend. I won't be gone long, I'll be back tomorrow."

"I'm gonna miss you," he said, moving in closer and nuzzling my neck in a teasing way. Oh if only you knew honey. . .  
"You'll see me soon," I promised. It was true; he'd be seeing _a lot _of me _very _soon.

"Gonna miss you," he mumbled against the skin of my neck. His lips teasingly grazed over my bite marks.  
"Ew," Kate said, "Can you two save your love fest for ton-when you're alone?"

I gave her a warning look. She'd nearly blown my surprise when she'd almost said 'tonight.' I would've strangled her if she did.  
"I'll see you later baby," I said turning and kissing him on the lips. I intended for it to be a brief peck but it ended up getting deeper and longer. Hardly aware of Domingo and Kate's presence, we just continued kissing.

"I swear to God I will hose you two down if I have to," Kate's voice broke through the kiss, surprisingly. We pulled apart and I whipped around to glare daggers at Kate.  
"You two are so freakin horny," she continued, ignoring my death glare, "I swear, you can practically taste it in the air."

"First off, I don't want to know what horny tastes like," I told her.  
"Oh but you will," she said, grinning like the guilty little devil she was. She was totally screwing with me because she knew about tonight's rendezvous. I wouldn't expect anything less.

"You're one to talk Ms. Mommy-to-be," I snapped, getting up and grabbing my backpack off the floor.  
"That would hurt more if it wasn't coming from a virgin," she retorted, grinning while she insulted me like only a best friend could.

"Love you too Kate," I said, slinging my bag over my shoulder, "See you guys later."  
"See you later Becca," Austin called as I walked over to the door and paused. I looked back at Kate and Domingo, and winked. They knew what they had to do.

I slipped into the empty kitchen, looking around like the paranoid little seductress I felt like, before snatching the keys to the crossover. With one last edgy glance around the kitchen, I slipped out the front door. It was dark out and there wasn't even the sound of crickets chirping. Still nervous, I slinked over to the crossover and climbed in. I started the car and pulled out of there fast.

I was heading for Hades, _The Naiad _hotel in Belladonna to be specific. I drove into Hades using the car entrance, and cruised around Belladonna for a while. Vitani had said that it was in the Pegaiai District. When I arrived there, I wasn't surprised. The Pegaiai District was the most modern area in Belladonna, it was also the most tourist friendly. There were fancy restaurants and casinos and at the very center, _The Naiad _gleamed proudly.

It was the highest in the area yet it still didn't reach the roof of the cavernous area. The building was startling white, with everything else shining gold. It was at least one hundred stories and at the top the words _The Naiad _glowed in scripty gold neon letters.

I pulled around the loop to the front door, underneath the little canopy. I stopped there, and reached into my bag for my shades and put them on. My bag was stuffed with everything I would need for tonight. The shades were important because I really didn't want anybody, especially paparazzi, recognizing me. There was a good chance they would anyway, but I still wanted to take a little extra precaution.

Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I pushed the car door open. A valet offered me assistance in climbing down from the high car but ignored it and jumped down myself. I handed the valet my keys and a generous tip before heading inside.

The lobby was very fancy looking of course. The floors were white marble, just like the Council building, and the walls were gold and covered in decorative carvings. It was a vast room with a high ceiling and diamond chandelier. There was a fancy looking little sitting area with a tea service and bottles of champagne on the end table. I strode over to the front desk and was confronted by an attractive smiling male vampire.

"Hello, Ms. Strega is it?" he asked. I guess it was obvious that it was me, seeing as Vitani had set up check-in at 10:00 on a Friday night for one night only. I guess they didn't get a lot of requests that specific. I wondered if Vitani had put the room under my name or hers. Both would be considered Strega in Hades.

"Yes," I said, glancing at the clock. 9:54, pretty good timing.  
"Your room is ready," he said, handing me my key without a single request for identification. I guess the Strega name opened up a lot of doors around here. Not surprising. I'd grown up my whole life, first life, living in that lap of luxury.

"Thanks," I said, pushing my sunglasses down a little bit so I could peer over the lenses and see around without the tint. I was afraid somebody else would recognize me.  
"It's on the top floor," the clerk continued, "The Maia Suite."

I wasn't surprised that Vitani had booked The Maia Suite. It was probably the nicest room in the hotel and probably frequented by Vitani and my mother. Maia was the Goddess of Magic, my mother's mother if legend was correct. Nobody really knew. My mother had never answered me when I asked.

"That's great," I said.  
"Elevator's over there," he directed me.

"Thank you," I said, sliding my sunglasses back. I walked over to the gaudy elevator and stepped inside. I glanced at all the floor buttons, looking for the top one. 112 ended up being the top floor and I pressed the button. The doors slid closed and I began ascending.

When I arrived on the top floor there weren't many rooms. I had a feeling that was because this was probably the most expensive floor. That was a plus, there'd be less people nearby. I'd have to thank Vitani for that. I walked down the hallway, not even looking at the room numbers. I had a pretty good feeling where this room was. Two large gold double doors were at the very end of the hallway.

I pulled out the key card and swiped it in the little slot next to the doors. Surely, the lights blinked green and there was a clicking sound. I tried the doors and stepped inside. I gasped in awe when I walked inside. The room was freakin _huge. _Everything was dressed in blood red silky colors and looked like it came straight out of the Azimon Palace. The canopy bed against one wall was huge and full of red silk sheets and pillows. There was a hot tub, a mini bar, and a small fancy sitting area. There were several doors leading to God's knows where. There were three large stained glass windows at the other side of the room. The largest one in the center showed the gorgeous dark haired, purple eyed Goddess Maia staring up at the moon. On the windows beside the larger one it showed the same scene only one was black and one was teal; to symbolize the blue fire and the dark magic. Austin and Kate.

The first thing I did was close the doors behind me before dropping my bag on the floor and walking to the other side of the room. I closed the thick red blinds on the stained glass windows that would only remind Austin of all the unknown responsibility he had to deal with. Once I did that I checked the time again. It was 10:00, which meant I had an hour before Austin would be here.

I grabbed my bag and started trying doors. The first door I tried was a massive closet, and the next was a little kitchen. Finally I found the bathroom. It was a master bathroom for sure. The embroidered towels were all red, as was the expensive looking shower curtain. There was a Jacuzzi and black tiled floors. I closed the door behind me and delved into my backpack. On top was the underwear I'd bought the other day.

I placed them on the counter, along with the fishnets and heels. I turned on the shower and stripped off my skinny jeans, black low-cut silk blouse, plain blue underwear, and white bra. Leaving them on the bathroom floor I grabbed my bag of tolietries out of my backpack and grabbed some stuff out of it. I washed up, making sure I was perfectly clean. I shaved and waxed until I was sure every part of me that I wanted hair free was.

Once I was done I climbed out and wrapped myself in one of the red towels. I dried off before I put on the black and red matching panties and push up bra. Next I put on the fishnets and held them in place with some black garters with little red bows on the side. I slipped on the red pumps before starting to blow dry my hair. I brushed it and pulled it back into an updo. I let a few curly ringlets fall down around my face.

Then I began to do my makeup. I did a little more then I usually did. I put on some blood red lipstick and outlined my eyes darkly in eyeliner before putting on some bright green eyeshadow. Once I was done I grabbed my bag and stepped out of the bathroom. Steady on the red heels from years of wearing them when I was Aella, I walked over to the canopy bed. As I walked over, I passed by the large, glinted mirror.

I was forced to see my entire reflection in the full length mirror. I was hoping I wouldn't have to see that. It wouldn't be good for my mental health. But I was forced to see how I looked in this slutty attire. I was dressed in only the fishnets, and the matching panties and push up bra, which left a remarkable amount of tan skin showing. My boobs looked pretty massive in that bra and a good portion of them were visible. My hair was up, leaving the bite marks on my neck exposed but I didn't care. My makeup looked good but was very extreme.

"I look like a stripper," I told my reflection. It was true, I did. With barely any clothes on, heels, fishnets, hickeys, and intense makeup . . . It was either stripper or hooker. I sighed; I hated looking really slutty. Seeing as a lot of people I knew, well sort of knew, immediately called me a slut whenever I wore anything even slightly revealing. But still, it was nothing compared to the amount of hassling Kate was getting. As predicted, Aidan had told everyone Kate was pregnant when she told him. To be honest, I didn't really blame him. Kate was my best friend of course so I was morally obligated to be pissed at him, but I still didn't really blame him. Aidan was a sweet, cute, blonde guy who Kate had chosen for a Blood Donor. And it took a lot to piss off a Blood Donor so much that they'd leave their vampire. He thought that Kate had cheated on him, and that probably pissed him off a hell load. Had I been in his situation, I would've done the same thing.

Shushing my mental babble, I walked away from the mirror and headed for the bed. In my bag I had everything I would need for tonight. I pulled out the bag of rose petals, scented candles, and condoms. Using my newly restored magic, I lit the candles and placed them on the bedside tables. I took the bag of roses and poured them all over the bed and let some fall on the floor. I was aware that I was overdoing it, but I could care less. Tonight was going to be so goddamn special, I was going to make sure of it.

It was nearly eleven when I called down to order some room service champagne. When the room service arrived I threw on one of the complimentary robes before answering the door. A bellhop pushed in a cart full of champagne and pretty glasses.

"Thanks," I mumbled, getting him a nice tip from my bag. He smiled and quickly left. I closed the doors behind him and shed my robe and put it in the bathroom. Just as my cellphone rang from my backup. I ran over there and scrambled to find it. I pulled it out and answered it on the last ring.

"Hello?"  
_"Becca?" _It was Domingo's voice. _"He's on his way up." _  
"Thanks Domingo. You rock," I said, smiling and shutting my phone.

Basically Domingo and Kate had borderline kidnapped Austin. Well, not quite maybe. They just kind of blindfolded him and brought him to the hotel against his will. I'd told them to give him instructions to go up to the front desk, asking for a key to the Strega room. They would give it to him too, I was sure. He was Prince Austeralgo for God's sake. They'd give him anything he wanted.

When I heard footsteps approaching, I looked around the room, trying to think of a sexy pose. I tried clinging to the post that held up the canopy, but it made me feel like a pole dancer so I ran over to the door and stood against the wall. I could hear a little clicking noise and the door opened. Luckily he'd opened the door I'd hoped he would, so it concealed me when it opened.

Austin stepped into the room, the door closing behind him. As he took a few more steps into the room, I followed him. Thanks to the plushy carpeting, he probably wouldn't be able to hear my footsteps.

"Hello?" he called into the room, seeing confused. Grinning to myself, I walked right up behind him and put my hands around his eyes from behind. Something must've told him not to fight me, because he didn't try to break free like he thought I was an enemy. Maybe it was that Domingo and Kate had brought him here, or maybe he could smell my scent.

"Guess who?" I purred in his ear.

* * *

_yea yea u were all probably looking fwd 2 the sex scene, and this was going 2 b it, but then i realized how long this was n decided 2 break it up in2 2 chapters. srry . . . but hey that's wat u get 4 this depressing amount of reviews. Mayb a few more reviews this time will persuade me 2 write the next chapter faster, god knows i'm not looking fwd 2 it. anyway, i have a poll up about whose ur favorite character from this series. Some1 actually said Jake . . . which both interested and surprised me. Unsurprisingly, Austin is in the lead. Anyway, vote plz, i love 2 no every1's opinions. **Anyway, plz review :) **btw, this story is nearly over. But no worries, there will b a 3rd 1!_


	47. Life Starts Now

**"Life Starts Now"**

"Becca? What's going on?" he asked.  
"Why don't you turn around and find out?" I purred, uncovering his eyes and taking a step back. Austin turned around and stared at me wide-eyed.

"Does this . . . does this mean what I think it does?" he asked with a huge smile.  
"Yes, yes it does," I cooed, grabbing his hand and leading him over to the little sitting area. Smiling broadly, I pushed him down in one of the plush chairs. He smiled up at me as I took a step forward so that I was standing directly in front of the chair. Smiling seductively, I slowly turned around and lifted my arms above my head and began to dance as sexily as I knew how to. I slowly turned back around to face him and saw that he was wide-eyed and smiling. I took that as a good sign.

So, hoping I wouldn't look stupid, I began dancing like . . . well like a stripper. I ran my hands down my body; down my waist and hips, over my breasts, between my legs. I was satisfied to see the mesmerized look in his eyes and the big grin on his face. Feeling confident, I bent over so that my boobs were right in his face and placed both my hands on his . . . personal area. I leaned even closer and kissed the smirk right off his face.

To better continue the kiss, I sat down on his lap and reached up to intertwine my fingers into his hair. His hands roved along my back before finally resting on my ass. When I bit his tongue teasingly he gave my ass a squeeze. I wasn't sure whether it was intentional or not. When my tongue grazed his fangs I could taste the blueberry flavored venom rush over my tongue, numbing it like Novocaine. I moaned against his lips and let my hands slide down from his hair to his neck, and then down his chest, and then to his stomach, and then back to his crotch.

He broke the kiss then. "Okay, that's enough," he growled, grabbing me by the waist and standing up.  
I giggled uncharacteristically and wrapped my legs around his waist, my heels digging into his lower back. I laughed excitedly as he carried me over to the bed and threw me down on it. He climbed on top of me and pinned me down.

"You're done leading me on little Ms. Tease," he told me, pressing his lips to my neck. I moaned lowly in the back of my throat as he nipped teasingly on my neck. His sharp canines ran along my skin, taunting me with the unmet promise of another bite. His lips continued down my neck to my shoulder and the front of my chest. They grazed down in between my breasts and over the center of my bra to my exposed stomach. He trailed kisses down my stomach and paused at my lower abdomen, just above the top of my underwear.

"Now it's time to get rid of these _ridiculous _clothes," he said, pulling back slightly and grabbing the rim of my underwear with his hand and sliding it back and forth as if it make a point.  
"You first," I said.

"Let's take turns," he purred, reminding me of when we were nine years old and were taking turns playing with his gameboy. To think how far we've come . . .  
"Deal," I said, pushing him off me slightly so I'd have room to wiggle out of my bra. He stood up and stared at me as I lay on the bed and tried to take off my bra off. I did it slowly, watching him watching me. I flung it across the room and he flinched forward like he was about to maul me right there. I lifted my hand in a 'stop' sign.

"Uh uh uh," I said, "Your turn."  
He sighed unhappily and proceeded to unzip his grey hoodie. He shrugged it off and let it drop to the floor before moving like he was about to jump me, again.

"Hey!" I protested, "No fair. You have too many layers. Take another one off."  
"Oh fine," he grumbled, lifting his polo shirt over his head and letting it hit the floor.

"Your turn," he told me, smiling sexily.  
I smiled back and kicked my heels off. I looked up at him smugly.

"Oh I don't think so," he growled, pouncing on me. I squealed and giggled underneath him as he pulled my fishnets off, leaving me there in only my lacy panties.  
"Hey!" I said when he made a move for them, "That's cheating. Pants - off."

"I can understand why you'd be excited for that . . ." he said, rolling off me.  
"Shut up," I said, even though it was true.

He grinned and kicked off his socks and shoes before sliding his jeans off, leaving him in only his blue boxers.  
"Your turn again," he purred, rolling back on top of me and pinning me down. He grabbed the tops of my panties with both hands and pulled them down and off me. He looked me up and down with an approving smile before flinging my underwear to the side.

"You next," I breathed, my heart slamming away in my chest.  
He gave me a challenging smirk as I reached up and grabbed the top of his boxers, about to pull them down.

"Ready to come and play little virgin?"

******* (AN: Warning! If you don't want to read anything lemony then STOP READING RIGHT NOW. It's not gonna be TOO bad, I promise. BUT, if you're not into that kinda stuff, then I suggest you stop here. Just scroll down until you see more **** That means it's safe again. Anyway . . . here it comes! The moment you've all been waiting for!) **

**

* * *

**

"You better believe it Mr. Playboy," I purred, yanking his boxers down. To say that I was shocked by the size would be a lie. I'd expected as much. The whores at school he'd slept with were going on and on about it all the time. Still, let's just say I wasn't disappointed.

Continuing with the aggravating yet pleasurable concept of 'foreplay' Austin reached up to cup my breasts. He circled my nipples with the tips of his fingers in a rymthic teasing motion. I moaned in pleasure, closing my eyes. My eyes opened with a start though when his hands left my breasts, just in time to see his mouth go to my right boob. He put my nipple in his mouth and began to circle it when his tongue.

"You . . . are . . . the . . . devil," I gasped out as he began to suck on my nipple.  
He pulled away and propped himself up by his elbows. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, a silent dare. "Oh am I?"

"Yeah but that doesn't mean I wanted you to stop dumbass," I said, grabbing his hair and pulling his head back to my chest. He laughed and put my other breast in my mouth. Doing what he'd did to the other one to this one. It felt so good . . . but it also annoyed me since I knew he was totally screwing with me. Figuratively speaking for the time being. If he didn't stop teasing me soon I was going to deck him . . .

His mouth left my breasts and trailed up to my lips. We kissed roughly, making out passionately. His hands were skimming over my upper body while mine ran along his bare back. My breath caught in my throat when he began to nibble on my lower lip. His fangs dug into my lip, drawing blood and coating it with sweet venom. The venom seeped into my cut, giving me a brief rush of a venom euphoria.

I gasped involuntarily; craving more venom. He was so messing with me. It was payback for nearly three months of not putting out, I was sure. It was so backwards. I was supposed to be teasing him, not the other way around. That just wouldn't do.

I rolled us over so that I was on top and trailed my lips away from his and up his cheek. I licked his cheek teasingly before moving on to his ear. I nibbled on his earlobe teasingly for a bit. It got somewhat of a response out of him but I wanted more. Experimentally, I blew into his ear and got the desired response. He shuddered slightly and I grinned.

"Not so smug now are you baby boy," I whispered in his ear before beginning to trail kisses down his jaw to his chin and down his neck. My lips trailed down his neck to his toned chest where I began to pepper the skin with kisses. I continued down to his six pack abs and stopped on his lower abdomen, just above his manhood. I pulled back, propping myself up by putting my hands on his stomach.

"How's that for a tease?" I purred.  
"Oh you're going to get it now Callaway," he said, grabbing my wrists and rolling us over. I squealed excitedly as he pinned me down underneath him.

"You're lucky I love you," he informed me, "Or you'd pay big time for that last little stunt."  
"Love you too," I said with a bit of sarcasm.

Grinning devilishly, he leaned in and skimmed his lips all over my neck. His fangs brushed against my skin and I shuddered. He picked a spot on my neck and started sucking on the skin there. He did this several times, his fangs pressing into my skin ever so slightly every time.

"I . . . am . . . going to harm you," I breathed as he pulled back.  
"Not if I harm you first," he said, grabbing my hands and pinning me down on the silk sheets.

"Hey," I said before he could do anything, "You're not harming anybody without a condom."  
"Please tell me you brought condoms or I will harm you in a way not nearly as pleasant," he vowed.

"They're on the bedside table," I told him.  
"Thank you God," he said, sliding off me and snatching the condoms off the table.

"Awww," he said in a teasing voice, examining the package, "I was kind of expecting you to get the flavored kind."  
"Oh shut up," I said as he climbed back on the bed.

"I just thought you'd like it if my dick tasted like blueberries . . ." he trailed off teasingly, "But I guess you didn't have the guts to buy the flavored ones . . ."  
"_Shut up_," I said again, swatting his shoulder.

"Hey, don't feel bad," he said, "I'm surprised you even had it in you to go buy condoms in the first place . . ."  
"Okay, that's it," I said, sitting up and grabbing his wrists and pulling him down on the bed. I tried to pin him down but he was too strong. We wrestled around for a while before he ended up on top of me, his hands pinning my hands down, our naked bodies pressed against each other.

"Okay, where the hell is that damn condom?" he growled, rolling off me.  
"Find it or I will explode," I vowed as he picked it up and opened it. He rolled it on effortlessly. I guess this sort of thing was second nature for him. Not a pleasant thought.

"You ready?" he asked, climbing back on top of me.  
"Oh yeah," I said with a smile.

"This may hurt a lot," he warned.  
"Bring it on."

He smiled brightly, positioning himself at my crotch. He ground into me and I realize that it _did _hurt. However, based on the unusual amount of physical pain I'd encountered in my lives, it wasn't so bad. I screamed once, more in shock then pain. I didn't care though; it was better then crying or something. The pain didn't linger though and was replaced by a pleasant feeling, a feeling like none other.

The whores Austin had screwed were right, he was good. _Really good. _It usually bugged me that Austin had had such an active sex life, but now, I was glad. I'd heard that most guys were really bad their first time. So, I was glad that Austin had so much experience, making my first time amazing.

He rocked into my roughly and I wrapped my arms around him, my nails digging into his bare back. The more he moved though, the more my hands did, causing scratches up and down his back. We were both moaning and panting in sync as I could feel the climax nearing.

When it finally came, my back arched off the bed in intense pleasure, a pleasure like none I'd ever felt before. Austin moaned loudly, letting me know that he was experiencing the same euphoria as me. I moaned too as I peaked and collapsed back onto the sheets. Austin pulled out of me and, breathing hard.

******** (It's safe now . . . )**

The next morning when I woke up I was wrapped in soft silk sheets. I sat up slowly, letting the blood red silk pool around my waist as I looked around. The hotel room was a mess, a result from our many rendezvous last night. We'd made love multiple times after the first and it got increasingly better each time. Until the end when Austin had practically passed out on me.

I looked around and thought about how having sex all over the room had had some consquences. All the chairs were knocked over and one of the legs of the coffee table was broken. I remembered when that had happened and it had _hurt._ I looked over at the cart that the champagne had been brought in on and noted all the empty bottles. On the bedside table there were empty wine glasses sprawled around.

I looked next to me to see Austin sleeping soundly behind me with the red sheets pulled up around his waist. His skin was glowing with the remains of stale sweat. His eyes were closed, his full eyelashes casting shadows along his high cheekbones. His full lips were slightly parted and he was breathing evenly. His fair hair was damp with sweat and turned a darker gold color as it fell lankly into his eyes.

I rolled over and stared at my gorgeous sleeping angel. I just loved to look at him. Gently, I reached out and caressed his cheek gently with the back of my hand as several dark strands of damp hair fell into my eyes. I brushed them behind my ear with my other hand. I lay there for a while, stroking his cheek and staring at him.

Eventually, his eyelids fluttered open and his silver eyes stared at me.  
"Good morning baby," I cooed.

"Mmmm," he groaned, stretching his arms, "Morning."  
"I had _so _much fun last night," I told him.

"Me too," he said, rubbing his eyes groggily, "But my back is killing me now . . ."  
I laughed. "Well I bet," I teased, "You were doing some _pretty . . . _strenuous stuff last night . . ."

"Anything to please my lady," he teased back.  
"Well I'll consider myself pleased. Although the hotel manager won't be pleased that we broke the coffee table. . . " I trailed off and nodded to the broken coffee table.

"I'm not paying for that," he said. Oh, but he'll buy me a diamond ring just _because. _  
"Me neither," I said with a smile, leaning in and pecking him on the lips.

"I love you," I said, pulling back.  
"I love you too," he said, "So so much."

"Me too," I said, snuggling closer to him, "Even if you do smell like a dog."  
"And I still love you even though your hair looks like a rat's nest," he said with a smile.

"And I still love you even though you're a total jerk," I said with a smile of my own.  
"And I still love you even though you got champagne in my hair last night."

"And _I _still love _you _even though you're a spoiled brat," I teased with a smile, twirling a lock of his gold hair around my finger.  
"And I still love you even though this whole gimmick has been going on too long," he said with a smirk.

I laughed and he joined in. Hearing his laughter made me smile. It was the most amazing sound in the world to me. Like bells, only deeper and richer.  
"I really do love you," I said quietly as he reached out to stroke my cheek. I could never get tired of saying that, especially that day.

"Becca, there is no one in this entire world I love more then you. Not even as much as I love myself, which, as you can imagine is a great deal," he said with a smirk.  
I laughed. "You always were conceded."

He laughed too. "True . . . But I'm serious about loving you."  
"I know . . . We've gone through so much together," I mused, "I just don't know what's next."

"What'd you mean?" he asked.  
"I mean, I feel like we've done everything . . ."

"Are you kidding me?" he demanded, "We haven't done _anything. _We're not even seniors yet and you're thinking that we've hit a dead end? You need to get your head examined, crazy. Uh, first off, my twin sister (your best friend) is pregnant in case you've forgotten. She's going to be a mommy and I'm going to be an uncle. Oh, and you might possibly be this baby's aunt considering the Council wants us to get _married. _Did you forget about that? Oh and let's not forget that Princess Aurora wants you dead and wants me to be her sex toy. Oh, and one last thing, there's some kind of 'evil unknown force' out to destroy the world that I'm - actually _we're - _supposed to defeat. So, yeah, we've got a lot on our plate."

"Okay . . . Well I guess I just feel . . . weird," I said, "I'm not sure what it is . . . I mean I don't feel bad . . . just . . . different. Actually, it feels really good."  
"It's called being happy," he said, "You should try it sometime."  
"Maybe you could teach me sometime," I said coyly, leaning in and kissing him.

"Maybe I could teach you right now," he purred, pulling me against his body to begin the encore to our amazing night.

* * *

**And that's the end of Blood Lines! Can't believe I actually finished it . . . Anyway ik the sex scene was probably really weird considering i never wrote a lemons b4 but . . . whatever. Anyway, I already posted the 1rst chapter of the 3rd 1! Coveted Blood! Check it out! I'd like 2 thank all the readers who've come this far and all of those who have reviewed . . . ur reviews make my day! hope u all continue on2 the next 1. luv u guys :) :) :)**


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